Peace and Unity, Forever
by Lady Mimi Allice de Yorke
Summary: Hermione and Draco are the new Head students, chosen to bring unity to Hogwarts. But will they be able to do it? Or are the obstacles in there way too much to overcome?
1. A New Hogwarts

**Disclaimer: I own no characters or locations. They are the brain-child of J.K. Rowling. The only thing I take credit for is the plot, which I hope you enjoy. **

_**Summary:**__Hermione and Draco are the new Head students, chosen to bring unity to Hogwarts. But can they do it, or are there too many obstacles in their way?_

**Peace and Unity, Forever.**

Chapter One: A New Hogwarts. 

Passing through the barrier to reach platform 9¾ and the Hogwarts Express stirs different emotions in different people, depending on who they are. For Hermione Granger, having not seen the maroon steam engine for two years, it was met with happiness and sadness. _The penultimate journey _she thought sadly. Taking a moment to remember all that had happened on that train she was suddenly jostled out of her memories by someone bumping into her. Regaining her balance she turned to see who had bumped into her and came face to face with non-other than Draco Malfoy. She was about to turn without saying a word to him, hoping to avoid confrontation when his voice stopped her before she could move more than a muscle.

"Sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going. Guess I must be more excited about going back than I thought" he said with a shy smile. Draco's statement about going back confused Hermione more than him talking to her in the first place. Before she could ask him about his statement, he bid her goodbye and walked around her and into the crowds. Shaking her head to rid herself of confusion Hermione pressed forward into the crowds of the platform.

Depositing her trunk with the station hands Hermione stood on her toes and looked above everyone bustling heads in the hope of seeing a mop of ebony black surrounded by a see of red. Spying her target she made her way through the crowds towards Harry and the Weasleys. "Harry! Ron" she shouted when she was about a metre away. Spinning around at the sound of their names they both grinned when they saw who it was that called them and before they knew it they were both wrapped in a crushing hug by their curly haired beast friend causing the three of them to stumble due to the force at which Hermione threw herself at them. Laughing they broke their three way hug and turned to the other Weasleys', all of which had smiles on their faces at the antics of the 'Golden Trio'. Ginny came forward and embraced Hermione in a warm hug, the two girls having not seen each other for months. Before they could start talking the final boarding whistle blasted, warning everyone that the train was about to depart. Hugging and saying a quick goodbye to Molly and Arthur the four Gryffindors' boarded the train and went in search for a compartment.

"So how was Australia? Enjoy your holiday?" Harry asked Hermione. She had travelled to Australia to retrieve her parents and give them their memories back.

"It was good," she said smiling "it took awhile for me to gain their trust; it would have been weird if just went up to them and told them that I was their daughter, was a witch and that I'd changed their memories for their safety. They would have had me confined to mental institute." She told them, causing the three of them to burst into laughter at the image of Hermione in a straight jacket. Once all three had calmed down Hermione continued, "Once I regained their trust the reversal spell was easy enough. The only problem was they didn't want to leave, I mean who would want to live in Britain rather than sunny Australia. They decided to come back but they wanted me to enjoy what Australia had to offer before we left. I have to say that I would definitely go back their for a holiday." She said with a big smile on her face. "What about you two, what have you done in the last month? I know you helped rebuild Hogwarts but what about afterwards?" she asked them curiously, she hadn't been in much contact with the two while retrieving her parents, wanting to rebuild their somewhat broken relationship.

"Well after making sure Kreacher was okay, which he is by the way, I finally got round to checking out my inheritance, you know, seeing what my parents and Sirius had left me. Turn out that I have more than I thought." Harry replied with wide-eyed astonishment, as though he was only just coming to terms with what he owned. When asked what he meant Harry elaborated, "Well including my trust vault, I have five vaults altogether, each with different things inside. One has ancestral portraits since the family manor was destroyed while mum and dad were in their final year. Another has family jewels and wedding dresses which I found surprising. I guess they wanted to preserve them because of their significance. Oh, well. A third has kind of a library and from what I could make out there were personal and professional journals from different members of the family. The last one is the family fortune and it's kind of split into two sections one with the Potter fortune and the other the Black fortune. I was quite surprised about that but once the goblins explained that the Black side has everything from the family with it, it made more sense. It's there to keep the place neat and clean." Harry said with a chuckle. "The rest of my times been divided between houses. Me and Kreacher have been working to make them habitable. It's not been pleasant, but it has been fun." He told us with a happy, almost content smile.

"Ron? Ginny? What about you two, what have you been up to for the last two months?" Hermione asked the two redheads sitting opposite her.

"Well after we helped rebuild Hogwarts with Harry and the Order we started to build a new house again, couldn't exactly live in Grimmauld Place forever. Dad decided it had to be less dependant on magic and more structurally sound this time to avoid any problems. Not that there aren't loads of wards on it to protect mum and dad. Once that was done and the insides all decorated I helped George out in the joke shop, try to make it easier you know, after loosing Fred. He's been so quiet and shut off since the funeral we didn't want to risk him hurting himself in the joke shop without anyone there. It was a lot fun working with him, I managed to bring back some of the fun and laughter that's been missing. Of course I think Alicia Spinnet helped more. She's been coming in every day to check on George and see how he's doing. They even meet for lunch everyday. I hope they get together, she's really good for him and they'd make such a sweet couple." Ginny told them with a dreamy sigh escaping her lips.

"I helped Luna and her father rebuild their house when we finished ours. She actually really nice just a little odd but who isn't in our world. We've gotten to know each other a lot better over the summer and," Ron paused blushing bright red and looking down to the floor of the compartment. They were just about to push him to continue his story when he mumbled almost inaudibly "We went out to the café in the village last week. We're kind of together now." He told his friends shyly; almost as though he was afraid they would laugh at him. When none of them made any noise I slowly raised his eyes from the ground and looked at his two best friends and sister. All three had wide grins on their faces, happy that their friend had found someone he liked. Hermione was especially happy for her friend as she was worried that he would presume they were together now since there kiss before the final battle. She was relieved to see that he didn't think that and it left her free and single to do as she wished. After a little more talking Hermione and Ron departed from their compartment to attend the prefect meeting at the front of the train. They were both anxious and excited as it was this meeting that they would finally find out who the head girl and boy were for the upcoming year.

* * *

The prefects' compartment was already full when Ron and Hermione arrived, even the Slytherin prefects were there before them, which was unusual. _I guess they must be anxious about who the head students are_ Hermione thought as she sat down in the last available seat next to Padma Patil. It wasn't long after there arrival that Professor Vector entered and called the prefects to attention.

"Now I know you are all wondering who the new head girl and boy are so I won't keep you in suspense any longer. It is Headmistress McGonagall's hope and desire that by appointing these two students as heads they will be able to work together and bring unity back to Hogwarts in this time of peace, in the hope that the past does not repeat itself." She paused and looked around the now mournful faces of the prefects. Even though it had been over two months since the final battle, those that were lost were still deeply missed and not all the emotional wounds had healed fully yet. Sighing regretfully at those that wouldn't be returning to the ancient school, Professor Vector reached into her pocket and pulled out two envelopes, on marked Head Boy and the other marked Head Girl. Clearing her throat she regained everyone's attention and began to talk again. "In here," she said holding up the envelopes, "are instructions for the head girl and boy as well as their badges. Now the head girl is Miss Hermione Granger of Gryffindor. Congratulations Miss Granger, you've earned it," she said smiling and handed the envelope over to a beaming Hermione, who was having a hard time trying to reign in her smile. Clearing her throat again, the Professor continued, "Now the head boy is Mr Draco Malfoy of Slytherin. A surprise to most of you I would imagine but he has the second highest grades in the year and, though it doesn't outwardly show, has a high regard and respect for the responsibilities of a prefect. Your envelope Mr Malfoy and congratulations to you as well. Now if you'll excuse me I must return to the school. I leave you in the very capable hands of Mr Malfoy and Miss Granger to explain the responsibilities to the new fifth year prefects." And with that the Professor turned on her heels and walked right out the carriage, leaving the prefects alone.

Once the professor had left Hermione and Draco stepped outside to read their letters and retrieve their badges. Once done they re-entered the compartment and dismissed the sixth and seventh year prefects, telling them that their duties hadn't changed and that they had to patrol the train periodically and stop any disrupting behaviour and help anyone that might need it. Once alone with the new fifth year prefects Hermione and Draco explained what it meant to be chosen as a prefect and what their new responsibilities and duties entailed. As soon as that was done they were sent on there way and the two heads went back to their friends to enjoy the remainder of the ride to Hogwarts.

* * *

The sorting passed uneventfully, as did the feast. It wasn't till afterwards when Headmistress McGonagall stood up at the front of the hall and began to give her first start of term speech. "Welcome to a new year and a new beginning at Hogwarts. As all of you know, over the last three years there have been many loses due to the war against blood and I hope that all survivors have learnt a valuable lesson; whether it's how to defend yourselves; or a change in opinions and beliefs," McGonagall looked pointedly at the Slytherin table as she said this, knowing that the overwhelming majority of that table fought or supported Voldemort during the war. "Now, I know that there have been many memorials for those that we've lost over the last two months, but I would like us all to take a two minute silence to remember the students and staff that have lost their lives fighting." As soon as she said this it was as though a spell had been cast over the hall; no whispers, no shuffling, nothing. Everyone present in the hall looked down to the ground – ghosts included – and remembered the happy times spent with those that were lost. Occasionally you could hear a sniffle as someone tried not to cry, wounds still fresh in everyone. At the end of two minutes the Headmistress cleared her throat and continued, "Now, there are a few new additions to the staff this year. Our new Muggle Studies teacher is Professor Miriam Bands. Our new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher is Professor Quinn Bonitas, an ex-Auror who is looking for a more relaxed life," McGonagall said with a small smile while a few scattered students chuckled. Once there was silence again the Headmistress continued, "And finally our new Transfiguration teacher is Professor Grady King. I would also like to announce that Professor King has kindly taken over the role as Head of Gryffindor house. I hope you all make them feel welcome." She turned to the side and clapped for the new Professors and soon the students followed suit, welcoming their new teachers. Calling everyone's attention back to herself the Headmistress completed her speech, "Finally this years Head Girl and Boy are Miss Hermione Granger of Gryffindor and Mr Draco Malfoy of Slytherin. First years, if you need any help or assistance and cannot find you house prefects go to these two people. Now I'm sure you're all tired after the long journey so return to your common rooms and rest up, ready to begin your lessons in the morning. Can the two head students please stay behind so you can be shown to your new accommodation. Goodnight all and welcome back." With that said everyone rose from their seat and headed to the common rooms, prefects guiding first years in front.

Standing and making their way to the front of the hall where the Headmistress was waiting for them, both Draco and Hermione were curious as to what their new homes would look like. Luckily for the both of them they didn't have long to find out. After the teacher's had congratulated them, the Headmistress led them to their new common room and dorms which were located on the sixth floor and were guarded by a portrait of the Founders of Hogwarts. They were given the password (pax) then left to discover their new home.

The heads common room was nothing special. The fire was the first thing you saw when entering, surrounded with plush armchairs and a sofa with a coffee table in the middle. The far end of the room were two staircases leading up to their own, private rooms, which they later discovered were connected by a shared bathroom. Either side of the two windows there were two bookcases, already filled with books and a tables and chairs between the two windows for maximum light, most likely for studying they both thought. They both quickly ran up to their rooms to see what they were like and when they returned to the common room there was an awkward silence between the two. When neither we able to think of anything to say to break the uncomfortable silence between them, they bid each other goodnight and retired to bed. _Well this is going to be an interesting year. _


	2. New Year, New Start, New Friends

**Disclaimer: I own no characters or locations. They are the brain-child of J.K. Rowling. The only thing I take credit for is the plot, which I hope you enjoy. **

_**Summary: **__Hermione and Draco are the new Head students, chosen to bring unity to Hogwarts. But can they do it, or are there too many obstacles in their way?_

**Peace and Unity, Forever.**

Chapter Two: New Year, New Start, New Friends.

On the morning of the first day back at school, Draco was awoken from his restless sleep by the sound of the shower running. _Hermione_, Draco thought, realising that his new roommate was occupy the shared bathroom, meaning he'd have to wait to get ready. _Oh, well, _Draco thought_ Guess I might as well wake myself up properly with a little workout. _With that in mind he rolled out of bed and started to stretch his muscles in preparation.

Draco had started to work out at the beginning of last year, when his father had his wand taken from him by the Dark Lord. Draco realised then that he couldn't always depend on his magic. It had started out small, running and flying around the Malfoy Manor gardens, but it soon became about building muscle so he could hold his own in a fist fight. _Not that it was much help when Potter snatched my wand form me _he thought bitterly. After that little incident the workouts increased and he focused more on reflexes than before. He was till slender but now he sported defined, strong muscles.

After about thirty minutes of push-ups and stomach crunches Draco was distracted with a knock at the bathroom door. Wiping the sweat from his face he made his way over to the door and opened it cautiously, not wanting to risk hitting Hermione with the door and it moved inwards. Peeking around the side her saw his new roommate stood just on the other side wrapped in a Gryffindor-coloured bathrobe. Once he was sure he wouldn't hit or see any of Hermione that he shouldn't he opened the door fully and stepped inside, looking at the head girl quizzically.

"Morning, I just wanted to let you know that I was done in here, if you wanted to come in now and get ready for the day. I didn't know if you'd tried to get in earlier or not, so I thought I'd come and tell you it's free." She told Draco who was presently looking around the previously unseen bathroom.

"Yeah, thanks. I heard the shower running when I woke up so I figured you took the first turn. Don't worry, if I think you're in here I always knock first. Don't want you feel uncomfortable." Draco told her with a slight smile. Before Hermione could say anything to him, he turned and walked back into his room to collect his wash bag. When he returned he expected to find the bathroom empty but was surprised to still see Hermione there, leaning against the doorframe of her now open door. "What's wrong?" he asked confused as to why she was still here.

"I just wondered if you wanted me to wait for you so we could walk down to the Great Hall together, show some unity, you know. Give a good example to the school." She asked him with a friendly smile. She didn't want there to be a permanent awkwardness between them, keeping them in uncomfortable silence throughout the school year. If the Headmistress wanted them to bring unity to Hogwarts, she was going to goddam make it happen!

"Yeah, okay. That's fine with me. If we're meant to unify Hogwarts I guess walking down to breakfast together is a good start," he said with a little chuckle that caused her smile to widen even more. "I'll be about ten, fifteen minutes max. Why don't you wait for me in the common room?" Draco suggested while closing the door leading to his bedroom. Hermione nodded and smiled at him before closing the door to her bedroom and locking it from her side.

After fifteen minutes a fully dressed Draco made his way down the stairs to the common room refreshed and ready for a new school year. Hermione was leaning against the back of the sofa giving her back a last check to make sure she hadn't forgotten anything. When she heard Draco come down the stairs. "Ready to go?" she asked. He nodded, throwing his bag over his head as they made their way towards the portrait. "How did you sleep last night? The Head's room are quite a bit different to the dungeons I would imagine." Hermione asked in an attempt to make easy conversation.

Draco gave a dry chuckle before he answered, "If I'm completely honest," he looked over to her as though asking if honestly is what she wanted and when she nodded her confirmation he told her, "even after only one night, I can, without a seconds pause, say that the Heads room is infinitely … better than the dungeons." He told he with a smile and laugh which she couldn't help returning. "What about you? Gryffindor or Heads room, which is better so far?" he asked her in return thinking _I'm going to make this unity thing happen._

"Heads room is much better so far. It's quite a nice feeling being able to get ready with having others criticising and complaining about what I was and wasn't doing." She told him with a smile. At his confused look she elaborated slightly by saying, "Lavender and Pavarti are very high maintenance and I'm not. They couldn't understand why I didn't wear loads of make-up, tonnes of jewellery and did my hair perfectly everyday. They walk down these halls like they're catwalks. I walk down them like they're school corridors nothing more. Does that make sense?" she turned to him to find him smiling gently at her. She cocked her head to the side and asked what was wrong. His answer surprised her.

"It just makes a nice change, knowing someone who knows that there are more important things than how you look. Correct me if I'm wrong, but if you changed your appearance to be like every other girl in this school and a guy asked you out you wouldn't accept them. You'd appreciate the attention, but you'd want someone to want you, for you. Not just the way you look. Am I right?" he asked her. Hermione blushed slightly under his gaze. Keeping her eyes on the ground she replied quietly;

"Yeah you're right. Unfortunately, either as myself or a primped up princess, I'm not likely to have and boys names on my card any time in the future." She told him with a sad smile before bidding him goodbye and heading towards the Gryffindor table while he made his way towards the Slytherin table, both thinking about what the other had said.

"Morning Mione" the simultaneous call came from Harry, Ron and Ginny. "What are the Head rooms like? And how's the company treating you?" asked a giddy Ginny. Hermione couldn't help but laugh at her exuberance and excitement.

"The rooms are great. Joint common room and a bathroom joining our separate bedrooms, which from what I've seen aren't any different to those in the tower, only larger." She then smiled brightly; "The beds are so comfy though, even better than those in the tower" she told them with laugh, which quickly faded however when she saw Ron glaring at her. She looked at him quizzically, "What's wrong Ron? You look as though I've committed a heinous crime."

"You said 'bed_s_'. As in two" When she still didn't know what he was getting at her carried on, "How the name of Merlin do you know what ferret boys bed is like?" he asked her angrily and his glare only intensified when she started to laugh at him.

"Me and _Draco _were talking on the way down and I asked him how he thinks the Heads rooms compare to the ones in the dungeons. He told me that they are infinitely better than the ones in the dungeons. That's how I know what his are like, get your mind out the gutter, you should know by now that I'm not that kind of girl." She told and then promptly stood up from the table and made her way to the staff table to get her timetable. After exchanging pleasantries with her new Head of House, Professor King, she moved back to the table to grab her satchel and some fruit before heading to her first lesson of the day, even if she was half an hour early.

* * *

The first class of the day was Muggle Studies. All those that took the Carrows version of the subject last year had to take it again this year, to counteract the biased information they were taught by the Death Eater. Sitting at the back Hermione had a perfect view of the entire classroom as well as her fellow classmates. Bending down from her seat to remove her text book she was surprised when she sat back up to see Draco sat next to her.

"I didn't know you were taking this class" she told him surprised that he would want to learn about muggles willingly. _Unless_ she thought _he took this subject last year with the Carrows and he's being forced to take it again this year. Yeah that makes more sen-…_ her thoughts were cut off when he replied to her statement.

"I realised last year that were not as superior as we think we are. Purebloods I mean. Can't rely on magic twenty-four seven and besides. The magical world will keep shrinking unless we break the barriers between worlds. Taking Muggle Studies is the first step." He told her with a smile, his text book already on the desk and open, ready to begin.

"Well I'm glad you're broadening your beliefs Draco. Now all we need is the powers that be to see that as well. Then our world might finally catch up with the rest of the world. Advance a little, you know?" before he could answer Professor Bands entered and the lesson began.

"Welcome to Muggle Studies, I am Professor Miriam Bands and I'm sure most of you are curios as what makes me appropriate to teach this subject, so to clear things up, I am a muggle-born who worked as liaison between the magical and muggle governments so I have a clear understanding of both worlds." She paused and walked around her desk to the board and took a pen from her pocket and began to write down about the technology what the muggle world had developed over the last seventy years. For the next hour the students learnt just how advanced the muggle world was in comparison to the magical one, shocking the purebloods in the room. At the end of the lesson the Professor set a simple homework of suggesting how muggle technology could help the day-to-day life.

"I never realised how behind we were. I mean I knew there were differences but I didn't realise how … backwards we are." Draco told Hermione as they made their way into the corridor and towards their next class, charms, which they happened to have together.

"We may be backwards at the moment, but if you think about, it shouldn't stay that way for long now." When he told her he didn't get her meaning the elaborated, "If Professor Bands stays on for a long time, till old age, just think about how many students she's going to teach over the years. And those students are going to go on to work in the Ministry and the hospitals. Be members of the Wizengamot and Board of Governors for the school. They'll be able to change so much and integrate all the muggle world has to offer into the magical one to make it a better, more advanced place. Our world would be so much better if that happens, don't you think?" she asked him as they waited in the classroom for the other pupils to arrive. They were yet again sitting next to each other.

"It would be much better. And if there's a good level of cooperation we could use our magic to improve the lives of muggles too. Sort of like a, fair exchange. You scratch our back, we'll scratch yours type of thing." He told her excitedly but when he saw her worried expression he was quick to reassure her of what he meant exactly. "I mean that, we could help the muggle world with our knowledge in things like health and safety, medicine, cosmetics. While in the majority of cases the muggle world is more advanced than us, we're more advanced than the muggle world. We could help each other until we're once again able to live side by side peacefully." He told her and he could tell she was surprised at how quickly he appeared to have come around to a world with cooperation between magic and muggle. _If only she knew_ he thought to himself sadly.

"Draco that's, really insightful. And this is just after one lesson, I can't imagine what you're going to be like at the end of the year." She told him with a bright smile. Before they could carry on their conversation however, Professor Flitwick began the lesson.

* * *

The first week back at Hogwarts was unlike any of the others. While there was happiness to be back at school and seeing friends after such a tumultuous year, there was also an underlying current of sadness running throughout the school, staff and students a like.

No one could help but think of all those that were no longer there. Those that gave up their lives so that those that survived could be free from prejudices. It was especially heartfelt in particular subjects and years, those that had lost the most noticeable people, the ones that made every lesson and joy to be in, or the ones that lost the unusual quirks of certain students such as Colin Creevey.

No one could deny that while this was undoubtedly the happiest year anyone had spent at Hogwarts, it was also one of the saddest as everyone was still mourning those that were no longer with them.

* * *

But while there was sadness in the air, happiness and light blossoms from the darkness and this perfectly described the growing friendship between Hermione and Draco.

Most nights would find them sat on the sofa or at the table, talking about their subject's ad what they thought on different social and political issues. And while the topics of conversation always stayed neutral, they both knew that it was only the beginning for them. After six years of animosity, to be able to talk to each other so easily after only a week back at school was a great achievement. One that noticed by the staff and the students. While the students began to wonder what other houses had to offer them, the staff hoped that the two head students would be able to break the barriers and prejudices between house down and bring the school together again, just like it was meant to be and just how the founders wanted it to be.

**A/N**: Well, here is the second chapter. I hope you all enjoy this one and thank you for my reviews and i've tried to take into account what's been written. Please review and let me know what you think, positive and negative feedback is welcomed. Anything to help me improve my work.


	3. Knowing Each Other

**Disclaimer: I own no characters or locations. They are the brain-child of J.K. Rowling. The only thing I take credit for is the plot, which I hope you enjoy. **

_**Summary: **__Hermione and Draco are the new Head students, chosen to bring unity to Hogwarts. But can they do it, or are there too many obstacles in their way?_

**Peace and Unity, Forever.**

Chapter Three: Knowing Each Other.

After nearly a week of talking to each other about their subjects and what was happening in the ministry, Hermione decided that it was time for her and Draco to get to know each other on a more personal level. _Nothing too personal_, she reasoned with herself, _likes and dislikes should be okay to begin with, just to break the ice._ With that in mind, Hermione decided to take a nice relaxing bath before turning in for the night, wanting to be wide awake for the conversation she wanted to have with her fellow head tomorrow.

The next morning Draco silently got up and started his workout in his bedroom, trying not to make too much noise as he didn't want to wake Hermione. After fifty minutes of push-ups and stomach crunches, Draco decided that he'd go down to the Quidditch pitch and run a few laps. _No one will be up this early, so at least I won't get any funny looks from anyone. _With that decided he made his way, quietly out of his room, wincing slightly as his door slammed louder than he wanted. _Damn, I hope that didn't wake Hermione up. _Draco then made his way out the castle and down to the Quidditch pitch.

Hermione was shocked from her dreams with a bang and a slight scream as she jolted into a sitting position. _What the hell _she thought drowsily, rubbing sleep out of her eyes, trying to clear her head. She looked over to the clock and saw that it was ten-to-eight. Shaking her head she fell back into her still warm pillows and tried to catch a little more sleep. Her attempts however were futile so she decided that she'd might as well get up and start the day. Once she was dressed she made her way down to the Great Hall for breakfast. Along the way she bumped into Harry, who weirdly, was coming up from the dungeons. When Hermione looked at him with shock and confusion written on her face, Harry merely smiled and made his way into the Great Hall with Hermione following suit.

"There's not point in asking is there? You're not going to tell me yet are you?" she looked at him with a small knowing smile. Harry and laughed in response and told her that she knew him all too well. With that they both started to tuck into their breakfasts.

* * *

Meanwhile, down on the Quidditch pitch Draco had just finished his fifth lap of the pitch and was stretching down when he heard the unmistakable sounds of the Ravenclaw Quidditch team walk into the storage shed to retrieve the balls. Making his way back up to the school, which was still quiet as everyone seemed to still be asleep, he walked by Ron Weasley. Keeping his eyes on the ground hoping to avoid any confrontation he was sorely unlucky. Just as they were about to cross Ron stopped and glared at him. Against his better judgement he asked Draco asked if there was anything the red head wanted.

Still glaring Ron replied, "I just wanted to tell you to stay away from Hermione. She doesn't need you bothering her with your fake muggle understanding and sympathy." He told him angrily and before Draco could reply walked off down the corridor. Shaking his head angrily Draco continued on his way up to the Heads dorms.

_What makes him think it's fake, he doesn't even talk to me, and I bet he doesn't listen to Hermione when she talks about anything muggle either. _He thought angrily as he stripped his t-shirt and threw it in the wash basket in the corner of his room. As he grabbed his towel and wash bag he suddenly came to a stop with a realisation. _Why do I care what he thinks? He's as stubborn as any Slytherin. As long as the people that matter know I'm serious about changing how my family are seen then that's all that matters. _And with that problem resolved he turned on the shower and stepped in.

* * *

Meanwhile in the Great Hall Ron walked in and immediately looked to the Ravenclaw table to see if Luna Lovegood had arrived yet and when he saw that she hadn't he moved towards where his best friends and sister were sitting. With a quick 'Morning' he got straight down to what matter – eating. This left the other three to carry on their conversation as though they hadn't been interrupted.

"What do talk about then, specifically? You can't exactly go up and ask 'What's your favourite food?' or favourite colour or lesson? It'd be a little weird don't you think?" Ginny asked Hermione with a frown of concentration.

"I don't know. We're more comfortable with each other now than before, but all we talk about is school work and to be honest it's getting boring. There are only two subjects we don't have with each other, all the rest are the same." She told her friends who both looked slightly amused and shocked that she – Hermione Granger – was bored of talking about school.

"Maybe you shouldn't be very forward like Ginny said. Don't walk up and randomly ask, 'What's your favourite so and so?' Do it more subtle, say 'I think we should get to know each other on a more personal, friend-like level.' And ask what they think about don't just say like that's what we're going to do. It doesn't exactly give a good impression to someone who I don't think has had someone wanted to get to know them on a more personal, friendship level." Harry told her, having the most experience of once being closed off and then having someone try and get him to open up.

"So you think she should take it slow then? Be a bit sensitive with how she approaches it?" Ginny asked him curiously, as though she was talking mental notes for a later date.

"Yeah. You can't expect a closed off person to open up magically with a couple of questions. It'll take way more time to get into really personal matters." Harry told her simply with a smile.

"I don't expect us to be best friends right from the off-set I just think it'll be nice to know things about each other outside of school work. Hobbies and interests that type of thing. I know it's going to take a while and I'm prepared to wait." She told them with a smile of determination.

"What are you three talking about? Who do you want to get to know better?" Ron interrupted them before they could talk anymore. Harry and Ginny unanimously looked at Hermione as though saying 'you can tell him'. Hermione sighed quietly and resigned herself to the inevitable outburst as soon as he knew.

"I think it's a good idea if Draco and I got to know each other on a more personal level. We already know each other on a professional level. Personal is just the next logical step." She told him, fully expecting him to blow up at her for associating with 'snakes' as he'd been known to call them. She was shocked when he responded with a simple;

"Good luck with that." Not knowing that, despite his warning to Draco, the two were going to get to know each, no matter what anyone says. Shrugging at Ron's lack of response, Hermione stood up and made her way up to the Heads rooms.

* * *

Just as Draco set foot in the common room, the portrait hole opened and in walked Hermione. They both stood where they were for a moment, both feeling slightly uncomfortable. It was nothing new to them, every time they talked about their school work, whenever they lapsed into silence the uncomfortable-ness crept upon them while they both searched frantically for something to say. _Well, now is as good a time as any_ Hermione thought to herself and with a determined nod she stepped forward and into the room.

"I was thinking. We've been getting to know each other slowly in the last week, but all we talk about is what's happening in our subjects. I was wondering if you wanted us to get to know each other on a more friend-like basis. I mean, we can't talk just about school for the rest of the year, we'd end up driving each other mad," she told him with a slight chuckle. "What do you think? Want to give it a go?" she looked at him with what she hoped was a friendly smile; _I really want to know him better _she thought.

_This is perfect,_ Draco thought _I can tell how I want to change the way my family is perceived. _"Yeah, I like that sound of that Hermione." He told her with a smile that was completely opposite to his usual smirk Hermione realised, _and much nicer to look at_ she thought to herself slyly. Draco motioned to the sofa, "Shall we?" he asked and when he got a nod of confirmation they moved over to the living area and proceeded to get comfortable for what they both were certain to be a long conversation.

_Where to begin_, Hermione thought nervously, but then it suddenly hit her. "Have you ever heard of twenty questions?" she asked and when she saw Draco shaking his head in confusion she explained, "With twenty questions we ask each other twenty questions, about anything. It could be personal or it could be funny or silly. Just to break the ice, because I don't know about you, but I'm feeling quite nervous" she told him with a smile that he returned in full, relieved to know that it wasn't just himself that was nervous.

"Okay that sounds good. We should be relaxed enough after to get down to the personal stuff. Why don't you start? Ask me anything" he said with a smile. Hermione took and moment to think of the first question.

"Urm, what's your favourite time of year?" she asked not really knowing why she asked that first, but it was a good a place as any to start.

"Favourite time of year would have to be December; snow covering the ground; nights are long and the days are short. It's cold as well I prefer the cold to the blistering heat if summer." He took a moment to think about his question. After a minute or so he decided what he was going to ask her. "How did your parents react when you decided to attend Hogwarts?" he asked and she was slightly shocked what he decided to ask her first. She took a minute to remind herself what her parents thought when they were introduced into this completely new world.

"They were shocked and disbelieving to begin with. They didn't believe in magic, they thought it was a big joke to begin with and didn't believe Professor McGonagall when she came and told us. But after reading some of my books and visiting Diagon Alley the first time, they began to accept it and me for what it was. Although I still think they're slightly uncomfortable with some areas, the more dangerous areas. They're getting better though." She told him with a small embarrassed smile that he returned, as though he was slightly embarrassed about asking that first. "What's the best place you've been holiday?" she asked him.

"I have two favourite places, am I allowed that?" he asked her with a chuckle. When she nodded he continued. "First place is Sicily we used to go there all the time because we have business matters of some kind there. Me and mother used to go all over the island. The second place is Canada we own a log cabin type thing in the forest. It's quite a way away from towns or cities so it's nice a quiet and peaceful." He took a moment to think about the next question. "What career do you want to have when we graduate?" he asked her, thinking it was going to be something like and Auror or working in law enforcement. He was therefore pleasantly surprised with her response.

"I think I want to be a children's healer. I won't be the new Madam Pomfrey, but I wouldn't mind working in the children's ward in . What about you, what do you plan on doing?" she asked curiously.

_Well this is it I suppose. Time to tell what I want to do. _"Iknow I have to take over the family business and run Malfoy Holdings but I'm going to change quite a bit of it. Merge it with a couple of Muggle companies to so that we can improve both worlds with each others technologies. I think I'll also work to bring the magical world into the twenty-first century. Introduce things like telephones and computers that sort of thing." He told her, his eyes falling to his lap after he was finished, not wanting to see her reaction. If he had looked he would have seen that she had a look of shock and pride on her face.

"So you basically want to change the way the Malfoy name is perceived?" she asked even though she knew the answer already, she wanted to hear him say it himself.

"Yeah, basically. I'm not proud of the way people react when they hear my surname, I hate it. I want my name to be something to be proud of, something that my future wife won't mind taking if she wants to, that my children and grandchildren say with pride." He told her with an excited expression as though he was seeing all those things in his head as he talked.

"I think that's really admirable Draco. And I think you can achieve everything you want for your family. You're already doing so much to change the way your names perceived, taking muggle studies, talking to muggle-borns, helping any and every student that asks you for help no matter what house they're in. Everyone in this place can see that you've changed. You should be really proud of what you've done so far and I for one cannot wait to see what you're going to do when we leave here and go into the big wide world. You're going to be brilliant Draco." She told him with a wide smile and pride in her eyes.

Clearing his throat embarrassedly Draco asked her what she did during the holidays with her parents. They continued asking each other questions all day, going way beyond twenty each, and soon it felt as though there had never been any tension of uncomfortable ness between them, ever. They found out silly things like each others favourite foods (cheesecake for Hermione and chorizo chicken for Draco), favourite colour (green for Hermione and dark blue for Draco) and favourite childhood toy (spiral drawing set for Hermione and a stuffed bear his grandfather had gotten him as a baby for Draco). They would occasionally go into more personal things, such as past relationships for example, but they always kept it fun. By the time dinner came around they both knew they were well on their way to becoming great friends.

* * *

Meanwhile, else where in the castle, two people were meeting again in secret, in one of the disused classrooms in the dungeons. Looking into crystal blue eyes, Harry leaned down and gave the girl in his arms a gentle kiss. Pulling back he saw her eyes were still closed but she had a brilliant smile on her face. Opening her eyes she looked up to Harry and whispered:

"Are sure Harry. You can leave at any time and save your reputation, I won't mind" she told him looking down, worried that he would indeed leave. Harry merely chuckled and when she still wouldn't look at him, he put a finger under her chin and gently pulled her face up so that she was once again looking at him.

"I'm here and I'm staying. Nothing is going to take me away from you I promise. And you know I don't care about my reputation. It's me and you for good my love. That's all there is to it." He told her and before she could say anything in return he pulled her into a passionate kiss that washed away any doubt she had about their relationship.

* * *

**A/N **Well there is chapter three. I hope you've enjoyed it (and even of you didn't) please leave a review letting me know what you think. Until next time.


	4. Visit a New Village

**Disclaimer: I own no characters or locations. They are the brain-child of J.K. Rowling. The only thing I take credit for is the plot, which I hope you enjoy. **

_**Summary: **__Hermione and Draco are the new Head students, chosen to bring unity to Hogwarts. But can they do it, or are there too many obstacles in their way?_

A/N: I forgot to mention, although many of you would have figured it out already, this totally disregards the epilogue. Anyway, on with the story.

**Peace and Unity, Forever.**

Chapter Four: Visit a New Village.

Time at Hogwarts passed reasonably uneventfully, the only incident that happened was the increasing interaction between houses, especially the Slytherins. The staff were all amazed at just how quickly and calmly unity had taken hold of the students. Looking down from the staff table the Headmistress saw the Head Boy and Girl walk in together chit-chatting. She knew it was down to their blossoming friendship that the school was unifying. She smiled to herself when she saw the two students laugh and Hermione gently shove Draco in the direction of the Slytherin table.

"You two seem to be getting along really well. I haven't seen you act like that with anyone, not even these two." Ginny told her nodding her head towards Harry and Ron, who were talking with Neville and Luna respectively.

"I know we've got to know each other over the last month. Silly things, personal things even family things. He is completely different now, the last year really changed him and it's definitely for the better. Plus he's intelligent and can hold a conversation that doesn't revolve around Quidditch and that is so refreshing, no offence." She told Ginny with a smile not noticing the wide, knowing grin that had spread across the redheads face.

"No offence taken. I mean, I like Quidditch, but the amount those two talk about, especially Ron, is just too much. And I'm glad you're friends with Draco, from the sounds of it, you have a lot in common with each other." She told her with a bright smile, her eyes however were following Neville as he stood up and left the Great Hall. Hermione of course noticed and made a mental note to ask her about it later when they were alone in Hogsmeade.

"Shall we head down to Hogsmeade then?" Harry asked the small group. Nodding in confirmation they all stood up and made their way outside, Harry looking across the Hall, smiling and winking before they were completely out of sight.

* * *

The first Hogsmeade visit always resulted in what seemed like every student from third year and above descending upon the village in one go. And this year was no exception. In fact I felt like there were even more people this year especially, most likely due to the fact that Hogsmeade was banned last year during the Carrows reign, the five of them concluded when they talked about it.

They decided to split up for the morning and regroup for the afternoon. Ron and Luna went of to spend some alone time together, having not seen much of each other recently due to various things. Ginny made her way over to Gladrags to buy a new satchel to replace the one that broke a couple of days ago. Harry went to Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop replace his broken quill and refill his ink. It was there he met his blue-eyed witch and with a quick kiss they left the hustle and bustle of the high street and made there way to a quiet place for some time alone together. Hermione meanwhile made her way straight to the book store and proceeded to loose herself amongst the shelves.

After a good couple of hours, when everyone had done and seen what they wanted alone, it was time to meet up and have lunch together. Ron and Luna were the first there and they were soon joined by Ginny and Harry, and unsually for Hermione, it was she that turned up late and with a companion in toe. Five minutes after they agreed to meet, Hermione arrived with non other than Draco Malfoy. Asking if it was alright if he joined them, the six made there way into the Three Broomsticks, where the boys proceded to buy get the drinks in while the girls went in search of an available table.

Joining them with butterbeers and snacks the six of them just sat there all of them feeling slightly uncomfortable. In an attempt to break the ice Draco looked over to Ron and Luna and said, "I heard that you two started dating during the summer. Congratulations you make a good couple." He told them with a slight smile that caused a brilliant smile to appear on Hermiones face at Draco's obvious attempt to be friendly towards her friends. With a small and quiet 'thank you' from Ron and Luna the uncomfortable silence descended once again. Hermione was about to make a throw away comment about the weather when suddenly Draco spoke in a serious tone of voice, addressing the table as a whole.

"Look, I want to apologize for the way I've acted and behaved towards you all in the last seven years, especially what I did at Malfoy Manor last year. I was dumb and a complete idiot to treat you all the way I did. I know it might not mean much, but I've changed and am still changing. I just hope you all give me the opportunity to prove it to you" he told them, looking at their faces with restrained hope in his eyes. Hermione was smiling at him gently, already a good friend with him, she hoped her other friends wouldn't be closed minded and would give Draco the chance he wanted to prove to them that he'd changed for the better.

Harry was the first to break the silence, "From what I've heard Hermione say, you're really working on changing how you're percieved so, apology accepted. We're probably a long way off from it at the moment, but if you're willing, friends?" he asked holding out his hand, just like Draco had done to him all those years ago. Draco gave Harry a smile and shook his hand firmly. Ginny and Luna also accepted his apology and shook hands with him, Ron however merely grunted, giving no clear indication as to whether or not he accepted or rejected his apology, nor did he shake his hand. Conversation stated to flow slowly between everyone after that, until someone tapped Draco on the shoulder.

Turning around with a frown at having been interrupted while talking to Harry and Hermione it soon changed into a confused smile once he saw who it was. "I thought you were meeting your sister for lunch, what are you doing her Astoria?" he asked as he pulled the girl into his arms for a hug, which she returned with a smile before responding.

"Daph ditched me for Pansy to go shopping. Apparently they don't have time to eat, all they have time for is shopping." Astoria told him with an amused smile, "I just came over to ask if you wanted to meet up later before we return to castle, I kind of wanted to get your advice on something." She asked him with a shy smile. Opening his mouth to reply, Draco was cut off before he could form a sylable by Luna who invited the young Slytherin to join them at there table. Looking around silently asking if it was okay, she took a seat between Draco and Harry, who got up to get her and everyone else a drink. When he sat back down they started up a conversation that had them laughing and smiling, the others going back to there previous conversations as though never interrupted.

Before they knew it the pub was nearly empty, everyone else having left to do last minute shopping before heading back up to the school. Ron and Luna left and made their way back up to the school having visited everywhere and purchased everything they wanted before lunch. Harry, Ginny and Hermione made their way to Honeydukes to buy sweets to keep them sustained untill the next Hogsmeade visit, leaving Draco and Astoria to talk privately as they wondered the streets of Hogsmeade.

* * *

"So what did you want to talk to me about Astoria, you know you ask me anything?" Draco asked as they aimlessly walked the ancient street, not particular destination in mind. Astoria looked down at her feet and began fidling with her fingers, a sure sign that she was nervous.

"Well. There's this guy that I'm kind of seeing. But no one knows, I mean, neither of us have told anyone. And he's older than me, still in Hogwarts, it's just," she paused, not sure how to continue. She knew that once she mentioned that he would be graduating at the end of the year Draco could figure out who the mystery guy was and neither of them were ready for people to know yet. "Once he leave's I'm not sure how it's going to work out. He's going to in the Ministy, surrounded by beautiful women coming and going out the office all the time and I'll be stuck here, only seeing him on certain weekends." She told sadly. Draco however only looked confussed about what her problem was.

"I don't understand why you wanted to talk to me then. Surely you should be talking to whoever this guy is if you've got concerns?" He asked her, not seeing how he could help her with her problems.

Astoria nodded and continued, "I know and I am going to talk to him about when it's closer to the end of the year. I just wanted to ask you if you thoguht it was worth it or not. I mean he's this wonderful, brave, amazing … selfless guy and I'm just worried that when everyone finds out we're together, because of who I am and people opinons about Slytherins, despite your's and Hermione's attempts to change things, people are going to be so in our faces that I'm worried it could be too much for us to handle. I don't think I'd be able to handle it if we broke up. Do you think it's worth the risk?" All this was said still looking at the ground and when she looked up she Draco's eyes had widened in realisation and she suddenly knew who she was talking about but before she could say anything he answered her question.

"If you're talking about who I think your talking about, then yeah i'd say it's worth the risk. You look really happy and content Astoria, don't willing give it up. And you shouldn't be worried about what people think about your relationship. As long as you're both happy then that's all that matters, not houses or family names. Nothing is as important as your happiness. Surely he's told you this, you should believe him" he told her with a smile and when she saw tears start to pool in her eyes he pulled her into a hug. "When everyone finds out about the two of you, if anyone says anything derogatory about you ignore them. As long as he sees you for who you are then that's all that matters." He told her, immediately easing her worries.

Pulling back and wiping her eyes Astoria looked up at him and smiled, thanking him for quenching her fears. Linking arms they began to make there way to Honeydukes to meet up with the other three. Waiting outside Astoria looked at him and asked the question that the majority of Hogwarts students were thinking. "What's going on between you and Hermione?"

Draco chuckled slightly, "Nothing's 'going on' we're friends that's it. We've gotton to know each other better over the last couple of months and making a fresh start." He told her with a smile.

"That's it? Only friendship? You seem to be spending a lot of time together for only a friendship. Not that I'm complaining or moaning, the whole unity thing is awesome" she asked, cocking her head to one side in confusion.

"What do you want me to say. That I think she's beautiful and that I have to restrain myself from getting lost in her georgous brown eyes whenever we talk." He said with a laugh.

"Well do you?" Astoria asked with a wicked grin crossing her face.

"Yeah I will happen though, she's way too good for me, not matter how much i've changed." He said with a sad sigh. Unbeknownst to the two Slytherin's however, Harry had heard the whole conversation. _Well if he continues to change the way he has so far, I don't think Hermione will be able to resist him if he asks her out. _It was then that Hermione joined him and they both left the store and the four of them together made there way back up to Hogwarts, talking pleasantly between them.

* * *

Mean while Ron had dropped Luna off at Ravenclaw tower and was currently sat in his bed, mumbling to himself about Malfoy. _People like Malfoy never change. Not unless they want something. Hermione is just going to get hurt. He'll probably charm her into dating then break her heart and run of with that Greengrass girl that came up to him today. _Ron was so busy in his own head that he failed to notice his other dorm-mates enter and get ready for bed. That was untill one of them threw a pillow at him to get him to stop him mumbling, which had gotton increasingly louder as the night wore on. Ron decided there was nothing that could be done at that moment in time so he turned in for the night, dreaming dreams of his beautiful Luna.

* * *

In the heads rooms Draco and Hermione were talking about how they thought the day had gone.

"Do you think they'll accept that I'm trying change?" Draco asked, nervous of the reply, thinking that in the end, her friends wouldn't accept the fact that he wasn't the old Draco anymore.

"I think they will yeah. Harry and Ginny will realise it much sooner than Ron will. He's the most stubbon out of all us. It'll take time for him to realise that you're a different Draco now than you were last year. He's still kind of sore about what happened with your aunt in your mannor. But even he'll come round, you just have to give them time. Bear in mind they don't see much of alone like I do. We live together so it's bound to take longer for them." She reasured him with a smile. She then asked what she was wondering at since lunch, "I never realised you that close with Astoria. I thought that you'd be friends, both being from old pureblood families and in Slytherin together, but I didn't think you'd be that close with each other." She told with a smile. Draco laughed slightly before replying.

"Her mother visited the manor all the time when we were younger. Daphne used stay with our mothers and me and Astoria would go all over the manor and gardens to find entertainment. As we got older we started talking more and I became her confidant I guess. She and her sister aren't that close." He told her shrugging as though it wasn't a big deal.

"Well I think it's sweet that your that close to each other. Especially with there being a two year age gap. It's refreshing." She told him with a smile that soon turned into a yawn. Chuckling they bid each other goodnight and went up to bed.

_Well today was a total success I think. _Hermione thought as she climbed into bed, _everyone got on well and we were all talking. Not bad for a first encounter. And Draco looked good tiday as well._ And with that, she drifted off into the world of dreams.

* * *

A/N: Well that was chapter 4. I hope you enjoyed it and please leave a review letting me know what you think. Until next time.


	5. The Truth Will Out

**Disclaimer: I own no characters or locations. They are the brain-child of J.K. Rowling. The only thing I take credit for is the plot, which I hope you enjoy. **

_**Summary: **__Hermione and Draco are the new Head students, chosen to bring unity to Hogwarts. But can they do it, or are there too many obstacles in their way?_

**Peace and Unity, Forever.**

Chapter Five: The Truth Will Out.

The weekend after the first Hogsmeade visit brought with it an unexpected blast of cold weather keeping all the students inside the castle. Ron and Luna were by the greenhouses enjoying each others company; Hermione was talking to Madam Pomfrey about healing; Ginny was getting Neville to help her with her Herbology homework, despite the fact she didn't need it and Harry was hiding somewhere in the vast castle or grounds, no one quite knew where as he disappeared after breakfast.

Draco was spending some time in the Slytherin common room with Blaise Zabini and Theo Nott trying to come up with new strategies for the Quidditch team in an attempt to beat the Gryffindors this year. They were determined that this year was going to be the year that the Slytherins won the Quidditch cup.

"If we want to beat the Gryffindors this year we aren't going to do with the snitch. Nothing and no one can beat Potter as seeker, not even you Draco. No offence" Theo said looking at Draco. When he shrugged he continued, "So if the 150 point snitch is a no go, we have to get enough points on our board so that when they get the snitch they don't have enough points to beat us." He told them with a grin.

"And what about the points they have on their board? If you add the snitches points to the ones they already have, we'd have to have like 600 plus points to ensure we win." Goyle pointed out to them from where he was sat on the table behind the couch the three boys were sat on. Theo rolled his eyes at the other two but it was Draco who answered.

"We'll have a keeper that's more than brute force this year. The whole team will be picked on skill, not just who's strongest or who knows who. That and strategies will give us a fighting chance of winning this year." He told his old friend while looking over the list of the Slytherin students that signed up for Quidditch trials.

"Who put you in charge?" Theo asked Draco with a drawl. Draco slowly looked up from his list. No one knew who the Quidditch captain was this year. _Well _he thought, _they're about to find out._

"The badge in my room that says 'Captain' so maybe that's a clue. You have a problem with the way things are going to be run, and then you can bring it up with me. That is, if you make the team." He told him with a smirk, reminding them of the old Malfoy. With that he gathered up the paper's that surrounded the boys and made his way out the common room.

On his way back up to the Entrance Hall he spotter Harry coming out of an empty classroom. "What are you doing down here? Anyone would think you're up to no good." Draco said as he made his way towards the Gryffindor, laughing slightly when he jumped at being caught off guard.

"I, uh. Forgot my … potions book. Yeah last lesson. Came down here looking for it." He told him forcing a smile, stuffing his hands in his pockets. Draco looked at him oddly.

"Why are you looking in a spare classroom then? Surely it'll be in the potion classroom?" Draco asked, curious as to what Harry was really doing down in the dungeons.

"I thought that someone might have put in one of the spare rooms, to keep it out the way of exploding first years cauldrons" he told him with a grin, all the while trying to come up with a way of getting Draco away from the door. "Couldn't help me look for it could you? It's only I've got to get that essay Slughorn gave us and it's got what little notes I have in it." He asked, thinking that if he got the Slytherin away from the classroom long enough, his blue eyed girl could escape the classroom unnoticed. Nodding the two went off in search for a fictional textbook.

After a good fifteen minutes of searching the dungeons, the two called it quits and made their way back to the upper levels of the school, talking about the upcoming start of the Quidditch season.

"You may have a chance this year. If you get rid of all the brute muscle, you may come in third not last this time round" Harry told him with a grin making Draco laugh sarcastically.

"We may surprise you this year." Draco then got a glint in his eye which worried Harry slightly. "Or you might be too pleasantly distracted to notice us grab the snitch from under your nose. A lot of pretty girls in the stands you know." He told the slightly wide eyed boy. He was totally taken by surprise when Harry came back with;

"Yeah I know there are. So do you I reckon. Or did I not hear you right when you said you could get lost in our Mione's eyes?" Harry asked with a smirk to rival Snapes, chuckling at the blondes discomfort at being overhead. Tapping him on the shoulder he sped up slightly, sure that once the blonde snapped out of his shock, he's catch up with him.

Shaking his head and coming back to his senses, Draco caught up with Harry by the staircases and stopped him, demanding to know what he knew.

"Relax Draco. All I know is that you think she's beautiful, that you want to get lost in her eyes every time you talk – very romantic by the way. And that you think she's too good for you" he told the embarrassed boy. Slinging his arm over the others shoulder they continued up the stair. "Now, I don't think she's too good for, I think you're perfect for each other. The only problem is, she won't admit it yet. You know Hermione. Runs through every possible scenario and twist before making her mind up. So you just have to give her some time and she'll come to you." He told the boy who was slightly slacked jawed at what Harry was saying. _I could be in with a chance_ he thought to himself, careful not to show too much hope on his face.

"Of course, there's nothing wrong with pushing her in the right direction a little. Especially if it means she reaches the same conclusion a little quicker, making everyone a winner." Harry said with a twinkle in his eye and a grin across his face. It was the last bit however that made Draco stop short.

"What do you mean 'winner'? There's no money ridding on this is there? Cause that's … that's … wrong!" Draco exclaimed, indignant that people were making a sport out of his personal life.

"Hey, hey, hey. No one's making any money out of anyone. I just meant that if you two were to get together, it would make you two happy, Ginny happy, Luna happy and me happy. That's all I meant. Honestly." Harry reassured him his face now serious. When Draco nodded slowing Harry looked around to make sure no one was watching and leaned in closer, "Okay then. Here's what we do …"

* * *

When Hermione walked into the Heads common room after a lengthy discussion with Madam Pomfrey about getting into healing, she was pleasantly surprised to see a group of people she never thought she'd see together – Harry; Draco; Ginny; Neville; Ron; Luna; Astoria; and Blaise Zabini - all sitting around and talking as though they'd been friends for years, not weeks or days. "What's going on?" she asked the strange group curiously.

"Just a little get together. We thought that since you and Draco have to bring the school together in unity that we'd help. And what better way than a small sit down, just to get to know each other a bit better. A few home truths, a little tell all type of thing." Harry told her with an innocent smile from where he sat on the couch, Ginny on one side, Draco on the other with Astoria in front of him sat on a cushion in the floor. "Fancy joining us head girl? We were just about to spin a bottle. That way no one can be accused of singling someone out. It's all pure chance" Harry told her holding up said bottle and shaking it invitingly to her.

Shrugging her shoulders she dumped her bag on the desk and sat down on one of the many cushions spread out all over the floor. "Who spins first then Mr. Diplomat" she asked Harry smiling at his attempt to help bring unity to Hogwarts. _If this works without any hiccups I'll be amassed. Might even try in the Great Hall_ she thought to herself watching as Harry leaned over and put the bottle on the table and motioned for one of the others to spin.

Always up for a good laugh or two, it was Blaise who was the first to spin the bottle. Landing on Ginny he asked her, "What's the worst present you ever received?" he asked her with a smirk.

"A book on the Chudley Cannons" she told him with a confused smile, wondering why he'd ask something so random.

"Hey!" Ron exclaimed indignantly, "I got you that!" he told her as though that would suddenly change her opinion of the quality of the present. "And why ask such a random question, I mean. What's the point?" he asked Blaise.

"Ron you know I hate the Cannons. And besides, you took it as soon as I looked the other way and have had it ever since." She told him, making him go a red as his hair, a sure sign of his embarrassment.

"And I asked her that so I'd know what not to get her as a present. Must always know these things" he said with a smile and a flirtatious wink in Ginny's direction, making her giggle and Neville glare.

Next it was Ginny's turn, so she leaned over and spun the bottle, it landing on Luna. After a quick question about why she put signs up at the end why she put signs up at the end of every year asking people if they've seen items of clothing the response quickly changed the mood of the whole room when everyone found out that Luna's roommates hide her stuff from her every year. Luna however was oblivious and spun the bottle it landing on Astoria and the game continued.

After finding out why Astoria wasn't on friendly terms with her sister (she was daddy's little girl now, not Daphne) and discovering that Ron used to have a stuffed bear called Mr Booboo (who he couldn't sleep without until the age of 9) and that Blaise and Draco had kissed two years before on a dare (neither of which liked or were happy about remembering) and that Neville had a bubble-gum wrapper collection given to him by his mother, it was Hermione's turn to answer to the bottle. And by an odd coincidence, it was Harry asking the question.

"What would a guy have to do, to prove to you that he was worth giving him a chance to date you?" he asked with smile. Hermione looked confused but nevertheless took a minute to think about her answer. When she finally got one she looked up and started to talk.

"He'd have to prove to me that he wasn't just trying to be with me to help his grades and do his homework for him. He'd have to prove he was with me for me. He'd have to listen to me when I talk and look at my face and not try to look down my top. He'd have to show me that he was romantic and spontaneous all at the same time, without it looking like a hassle. And he'd have to understand me. Where I'm from, where I want to go, what I want to do" she told the small group and by the time she'd finished she was looking down at her hands which were lying in her lap. It was because of this she didn't see Harry or Ginny's grin or Ron's glare. Or Draco, just looking at her, as though she was the most perfect person in the world. Clearing her throat she looked up and straight at Harry. "Well since you're the only person who hasn't answered a question there's not point in spinning the bottle, don't you agree?" When Harry nodded, still smiling, it was Hermione's turn to smile. _Time for the truth me thinks_ she thought to herself before saying out loud, "Who do you keep meeting in the dungeons?" she asked, her smile widening even further when Harry's fell.

Looking around him, at all the curious faces, all wanting to know that same thing. He subtle locked eyes with another and taking a deep breath he slowly began to open his mouth …

* * *

Cliff hanger I know, it's awful. But hey, that's the way the dice roll. Hope you enjoyed chapter five. I'm not 100% happy with this chapter but this is as good as I can come up with. Shorter than the others so it's a nice change.

Anyway, as always please leave me a review letting me know what you think, or maybe you just want to guess who the girl is.

Until next time. Bye.


	6. The Secrets Out

****

Disclaimer: I don't own it, it's all J.K's.

I think i've left you in suspense long enough. Here is the next chapter and here you'll find out who Harry is with! Plus a little Dramione fluff, just to get the ball rolling. Hope you enjoy :)

**Peace and Unity, Forever.**

_Previously; __He subtle locked eyes with another and taking a deep breath he slowly began to open his mouth …_

Chapter Six: The Secrets Out.

"What makes you think I'm with someone? Maybe I just like it down in the dungeons" he said with a straight face looking around at his friends. Everyone looked at him as though he was an idiot for thinking they'd buy that. Sighing Harry and in an attempt to help them understand he began to tell them all about it.

"We started talking to each other when we were both helping fix Hogwarts back up. Started small you know just a 'how are you' here a 'need help' there. Over those couple of months we started talking even more, meeting up and getting to know each other. Inside out. Each other's strengths and weaknesses, happy and sad memories. When the school was finished we still used to meet up, in the muggle world mainly, neither of us were sure how everyone would react. She was still living in the family manor I was at Grimmauld Place. A couple of days after my birthday, she turned up at Grimmauld, upset. She'd fallen out with her sister, big blow up. She wanted to talk to someone so she came to me. Her usual confidant was busy" here he paused taking a deep breath, preparing himself for the next part of the tale.

"So that's how you became friends?" Hermione asked him. When nodded she asked, "so how did you go from friends to seeing each other romantically?" she asked him.

"I decided that we should go out, to distract her take her mind off her sister. So we went to the cinema, saw some rom-com. After that we got some take-away and went back to the house. When we were done we were just relaxing on the sofa together. When she started to get tired she leaned against me so I put my arms around, hugged her. Then we kissed. Neither of us were sure how it happened but it did. We were both so shocked that we jumped apart and she said that she should be getting back to the manor. She was going to take the Knight Bus but I told her it'd be quicker and cheaper if I just apparated her there," Harry said.

"Then what? You both just walked away?" Ginny asked leaning forward in anticipation. Harry shook his head. By now he was pacing up and down behind the sofa, uncomfortable talking about his personal life with so many people.

"We were at the gates; I couldn't get any further into the grounds. We were just stood there, neither of us knew what to say or do. I was about to apologise for the kiss, I mean, I knew I liked her but I didn't know if she felt the same" he ignored the slight scuff from Ginny. "Before I could say anything she grabbed the front of my shirt and pulled me into a kiss." He told them, a goofy grin crossing his face as he remembered that night. Everyone was so focused on Harry that they failed to notice another set of lips forming a wide grin of their own.

Hearing a snigger coming from the sofa snapped Harry out of his memory, and looking around he remembered what he was doing there. Clearing his throat he continued. "Anyway, after she pulled away she turned and started to run back towards the manor. I knew that once she got beyond a certain point I wouldn't be able to get to her, not without alerting the whole place that I was there. So I ran after, an easy feat. When I caught up to her I spun around to face me and kissed her again. Lasted longer than last time and we both got more into it. When we let go of each I asked her out. A little breathlessly but it was all the same. She said yes and we've been together ever since." He paused for a moment, to collect his thoughts.

"While school was still out we went on a few dates, all in the muggle world of course. We both decided that we'd tell everyone about us at a later date. Once we were sure no one would mind and we were sure that it was going to last, if not forever than for a long time." He told them running his hands through his hair. He knew he still hadn't technically answered the question but there was still a little time to spare. _Just our secret a little longer_ he thought we a small smile. When he looked over at the people surrounding the fire he saw the girls all had smiles on their faces, but one was wider than the others. When she gave a small nod saying it was okay, he gave her a barely noticeable wink.

"The reason I was sneaking around was because, despite the fact the wars over now, there are still some people who don't think our houses should mix. It's not that bad in our house, I wouldn't get any grief if anyone found out. But her house would give her a lot of grief, especially her sister. Doesn't really help that I am who I am" he told them, making his was around the sofa to sit on the floor in front of the coffee table. Taking a deep breath he said, "It would make quite a few Slytherins unhappy, no offence you two," he said looking at Draco and Blaise quickly to see them shrug to show they weren't offended. "Knowing the Harry Potter was dating Astoria Greengrass." He told the shocked group looking to his left and gently taking Astoria hand, kissing the top. His eyes never leaving the blue ones of his girlfriend. "The secrets out. You okay?" he asked her softly, gently running his thumb along the back of her hand.

"I'm fine," she told him with a smile, "When I'm with you, I'm always fine." She told him, leaning into his side so they could put their arms around each other. When he placed a gentle kiss on the top of his head she whispered, "Better than fine. I'm perfect." Before leaning her head back so he could press a soft kiss to her lips, making her smile, and making Hermione and Ginny 'aww' at what a cute couple the two of them made.

"Are you serious?" Ron asked suddenly, his voice louder than everyone expected. When everyone looked over to him, they saw that he was about ready to start screaming at them.

"What do you mean, 'am I serious'? Of course I am, why wouldn't I be. Astoria wonderful, why wouldn't we be together?" Harry asked him confused as to what Ron had a problem with.

"The problem is Harry, she's a snake. A dirty little Slytherin. They live to make other people unhappy and miserable." He told him as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"I don't care that she's Slytherin" Harry retorted, his voice getting louder as he defended his girlfriend. "It's just a badge for crying out loud it doesn't mean anything." He told his long time friend. He couldn't believe he objected to his friend's happiness just because of a little embroidery on some robes.

"They're always up to something. Malfoy is and so is Greengrass. You and Hermione are just going to get hurt. They're probably working with daddy death eaters to get revenge. Don't you see it? They going to try and turn of over" he told them, convinced that he was right. _A snake never changes its skin_ he thought to himself.

Draco scoffed, "For crying out loud Weasley!" he exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air, "No one's going to turn anyone over. And no ones going to hurt anyone. Astoria won't hurt Harry, she wouldn't hurt a fly let alone the person she's been dating for three months. And I'm not going to hurt Hermione, like I told in the corridor last month. We are friends, and I don't hurt the people I'm friends with. Never have, never will." He told him indignantly. But Ron wasn't having any of it. He jumped to his feet and shouted at him;

"Snakes don't change their skins! And neither do you! You're going to hurt them. And I'm going to figure out how and stop you!" he told them, thinking that he might have them on the run, scared that he'd figure out their plan and admit what they were planning on doing. He was shocked when Hermione stood up in front of him, eyes blazing in anger.

"How dare you Ronald!" she shouted, pointing him in the chest. "You don't know what Draco's like and you don't know what Astoria is like either. You don't know what any Slytherin is like because you're too closed minded to get to know them. You're just assuming that they're the same as ever, aren't you? Well I'll tell you something Ronald, they are nothing like they were before. They may not be best friends with Gryffindors anytime soon, but they are a damn nicer to us now than they were two years ago. Maybe if you weren't so stubborn and thick headed you'd be able to see that for yourself. Now get out, I don't want to be anywhere near you." She told him pointed towards the portrait hole. She couldn't believe how narrow minded he was being.

"You'll see it Hermione. Both of you will. You should choose who you spend time with more carefully." He told them, turning to leave the common room. It's was Hermione's voiced that stopped him short.

"You're right we should pick our company better. That's why _you're_ leaving and Draco, Blaise and Astoria are staying. And if I want to be friends or more with Draco, then there is nothing that you can do to damn well stop me. You got that?" she yelled at him.

Harry, who was now stood up next to Hermione, was shaking his head sadly. "The wars over Ron. There's no place now for petty grudges over where someone sleeps at night" he told him, but it was his parting words however that stung the most, "You need to grow up mate. We're not eleven anymore. And don't even think about doing anything to the Slytherins. Or there'll be hell to pay. We guarantee it." He told him before turning back to Astoria and pulling the still slightly upset girl into his arms.

* * *

After his outburst, Ron went straight to the Astronomy tower, wanting to be alone to think of a plan to catch Malfoy and the other Slytherins that had brainwashed his friends. As he paced up and down he didn't notice the door open and close, nor did he notice the girl that had entered the room. He was startled when someone grabbed his hand to stop him moving. Looking up he say a girl he'd never seen before in the halls of Hogwarts. Fuelled by anger and not thinking straight, he pulled the nameless girl into his arms and kissed her, Luna far from his mind.

* * *

Back in the heads common room the group unanimously decided to call it a night.

Ginny and Neville departed for the Gryffindor tower talking quietly between themselves, their hands brushing each other occasionally, making them both smile shyly. Taking a deep breath Ginny looked over at Neville, who had his eyes on the ground. _Gryffindor courage come on, just reach over and take his hand. _Steeling herself in case he pulled away Ginny finally plucked up the courage and took Neville's hand in her own fully. When she realised that he wasn't even attempting to pull his hand away and was actually squeezing it gently she wrapped her other hand around his arm and leaned her head on his shoulder, sighing in contentment. The rest of the way back to the common room was made in blissful silence.

Blaise had offered to walk Luna back to the Ravenclaw common room, being brought up a gentleman, he didn't think it right that she should walk around the quiet school on her own. Once they were alone he asked her, "Is Weasley always like that? Or was today just a special occasion?" he asked hoping to get a smile from the petit blonde.

Luna smiled sweetly, oddly happy that someone such as Blaise was paying such attention to her. "He's not usually like that. I don't know what's wrong with him. I'll find out tomorrow. That is if he's not mad at me for not going after him. He can be a bit funny like that." She told with a sad smile seeing as their journey was now at an end and she'd be back to being alone. Looking up into his deep brown eyes she smiled at him, "Thank you for walking me back. That was really nice of you." She said and just as she turned to answer the riddle to get into the dorm Blaise lent down and kissed her cheek gently and with a whispered 'you're welcome' he turned on his heel and made his way down to the dungeons.

Elsewhere in the ancient castle Harry and Astoria were slowly making there way down to the dungeons, taking the scenic route so they could spend some more time together before they parted for the night. With their arms wrapped around each other they stood in front of one of the windows that overlooked the lake and paused to admire the spectacular view.

Standing behind her with his arms wrapped around her waist, "Are you okay now, after the whole Ron incident?" he asked her gently, kissing behind her ear making her moan softly at the feelings that her green-eyed guy was causing.

"Yeah I'm fine. I've got you" she said turning around in his arms, sliding her own up his chest and around his neck. Slowly there heads inched closer and closer towards each other until their lips met in a sensual kiss that had them both moaning softly at the feelings that the other were creating, that were currently shooting through their bodies. Before they got carried away however Harry gently and slowly pulled away.

Once their breathing was back under control the linked hands, Astoria's head resting on Harry's shoulder, and made there way back down towards the dungeons. With a parting kiss, that lasted longer than either of them planned Astoria made her way into the common room and Harry made his way back up to Gryffindor, hoping Ron wasn't already there as he wanted to avoid anymore confrontations. He knew that if Ron said anything derogatory about Astoria he wouldn't stop himself from thumping him one.

* * *

Back in the Heads common room, Hermione and Draco were sat on the sofa, both lost in their own thoughts as they replayed what happened earlier. _Did she say 'friends or more'? _Draco thought suddenly looking up and into the flames of the fire. _She did. That means that I'm in with an actual chance of dating me, _he thought to himself, smiling at the possibility.

_I can't believe I said 'or more' in front of everyone. I've only just come to terms with it myself and then I go a spill it out in front of everyone. I don't even know if he likes me or not like that. Oh Merlin, what a mess. _Hermione thought to herself despondently. She was so busy in her own head that she failed to notice Draco looking at her with hope burning in his eyes.

"Did you mean it?" Draco asked suddenly not being able to take the tension of not knowing if he had a chance or not.

Hermione looked up suddenly, a faint blush gracing her cheeks, unknowingly increasing Draco's hope. Nodding slowly looking down at her hands in her lap she replied with a faint "Yes it's true, I like you. A lot." She whispered, it sounding much louder in the incredible quiet room.

Draco's face broke into a huge grin and he had to restrain himself from jumping up and singing from the rooftops in his happiness that the girl of his dreams returned his feelings. He schooled his face into a soft and gentle smile. Taking her hands in one of his, he put the other under her chin and pulled her face up so she was looking at him once again. When she saw his smile she couldn't help but smile back and link her fingers with Draco's. Softly, as though talking any louder would ruin the moment Draco told her, "I like you too. A lot. I have for a while now" he said brushing the back of his fingers across her cheek before gently cupping it. Hermione closed her eyes and leaned her head into his hand before slowly opening her eyes again and looking at him.

Then, as though pulled by a magic, the two drifted closer and closer until their foreheads were touching. With their eyes locked they slowly closed the distance between them, meeting in a sweet gentle kiss that had fireworks go off behind there closed eyes. Slowly deepening the kiss, they eventually broke apart slightly when air was needed. Smiling gently at each other, they again closed the minute distance between them again.

The night slowly drifted in around them, but neither noticed, too lost in each other. They spent the whole night on the sofa, kissing each other occasionally, but mainly just holding each other. All they needed were each other. And that was what they finally had.

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Well that was chapter 6. I hope you enjoyed it. I was listening to Ewan McGregor during the majority of writing this chapter. The man has got a _fantastic_ voice!

Anyway. Chapter 6 is up (as you know as you've just read it) so please leave a review letting me know what you think.

Until the next chapter. I bid you adieu.


	7. Let This Be a Good One

**Disclaimer: I don't own it; it's all J.K. Rowling's. **

Well I hope you liked the last chapter. Here is the next one and I hope you enjoy this one just as much. Don't forget to review please.

**Peace and Unity, Forever.**

Chapter Seven: Let This Be a Good One.

It had been a week since Harry and Astoria revealed their relationship and in that time a lot had happened. Ginny and Neville were still dancing around each other but they were closer now than they were before. Luna was still with Ron (for reasons unknown to the others) but was spending a surprisingly large amount of her free time with Blaise, making the others smile knowingly.

And of course, Draco and Hermione had gotten together the night all was revealed and had been practically inseparable since then, much to the annoyance of Ron who still wasn't talking to anyone after a week.

Walking down to the Entrance Hall Harry, Hermione and Draco were quietly talking between themselves about what Ron might be planning on doing. "I've talked to the other lads in the dorm. Ron leaves early and comes in late. When he's not in class or the Great Hall he seems to just disappear. Ginny's asked the girls if they've seen him and they haven't either" Harry told them, concerned for the safety of his friends. Ron was known to be reckless and do things first and think later.

"Luna says that he doesn't talk about where he goes when they're together. All he does when he's with her is bombard her with questions about what the 'dirty snakes' do. He's obsessed with them apparently" Hermione told them with sadness in her voice. Draco put his arm around her shoulders and hugged her as they continued there way down the corridor.

"Don't worry love. I've talked to the other Slytherins and none of them have seen Weasley anywhere near the dungeon common room, and they haven't seen him anywhere near them outside classes. So where ever he's going when he's not in classes it's not near the Slytherins." He told them as they reached the Entrance Hall, where Astoria was waiting for them. As soon as she saw Harry she ran over to them and threw he arms around his neck, kissing him quickly on the lips before taking his hand as the four of them walked into the Great Hall.

Since it was revealed that the Harry and Hermione were dating Astoria and Draco, the two couples took it in turns sitting at each other's table, both tables totally unconcerned that two member's from there rivals house were sitting with them. Unity was slowly but steadily spreading throughout Hogwarts, much to the happiness of the Headmistress.

Sitting at the Gryffindor table the four students chatted happily amongst themselves, laughing with each other, carefree. It wasn't until Ron walked through the doors that things began to become tense. The whole school knew of the argument between the red-headed boy and the two couples. And surprisingly, the majority of the students, including most of the Slytherins, sided with the two couples.

Hermione sighed sadly when Ron glared at her when he walked past them. She hated that Ron was being so cold towards them. Hearing her sigh Draco wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her into a hug, kissing her temple in an attempt to comfort her. Her sigh this time was happy and she turned her head slightly so it was resting in the junction between his neck and shoulder, closing her eyes and smiling in contentment. _He always makes it better_ she thought happily, wrapping her own arms around his waist, returning the hug. Unfortunately her happiness was short lived as it was soon time to go to their first class of the day; Defence Against the Dark Arts.

Dropping Astoria off at the charms class, with a long goodbye kiss between herself and Harry with the other two rolling their eyes and smiling at them, the three seventh years made their way up to the DADA room, discussing what they thought today's lesson would be about. Being the first to arrive they sat themselves in the middle and were quietly joking between themselves. Soon the rest of the class arrived and Professor Bonitas began the lesson.

"Good morning class. Now we're going to start with a question. How many of you can cast a Patronus charm?" he asked smiling at the some of the looks his seventh years were giving him, ranging from confussed to ludicrous. "Well? Raise you hand if you can cast a Patronus? It's a simple question with a simple answer, no come on." He told his class slightly exasperated. Slowly some students began to raise their hands, Harry, Hermione and Draco being three of them. Harry looked around and saw that all those who were members of Dumbledore's Army had their hand raised, but that didn't even amount to half the class.

After taking stock of who could and couldn't produce a Patronus the Professor sighed and motioned for those with their hands in the air to lower them. "For those of you who cannot produce a Patronus I think I'll call on one of the students who can to show them what one is." Pausing he looked around the room and finally decided on the volunteer. "Mr. Malfoy you had your hand raised, did you not?" when he got a confirmation he continued, "Would you come to the front of the room and produce your Patronus please." He said motioning him to the front of the room.

As Draco stood and made his way to the front he racked his brain for a suitable memory to use to create his Patronus. Once he had one that he thought would work perfectly he pulled out his wand and thinking of his first kiss with Hermione, and trying not to blush, he said the incantation. "_Expecto Patronum" _and out from his wand an Arctic fox shot out and started to jump around the room, eventually arriving at where Hermione was sitting, smiling. As soon as the fox jumped up, as though to sit in Hermione's lap it dissapeared again, leaving only a white mist, that seemed to drift slowly to the ground as though it was softly falling snow.

Looking at the front of the room, Hermione and Draco'd eyes locked and they both smiled shyly to each other before Draco made his way back to his seat. As soon as he sat down Hermione grabbed his hand under the table and gave it a small, affectionate squeeze, as though she were saying 'thank you' having guessed his memory chosen had involved herself somewhat. There hands remained linked for the rest of the class.

"Well done Mr. Malfoy. Not only a sucessful Patronus but also a corpereal one as well. It must have been a very strong positive memory you used. Don't worry, I won't ask you to reveal what memory was used. Now that is a basic Patronus and the one I'm going to teach you is slightly more andvanced than your average Partonus. What I'm going to teach you is a way of sending messages using your Patronus." He told the class and excited whispers broke out throughout the class, looking forward to the prospect of being able to send messages quicker than using an owl.

"I remember when Remus sent us a message using that last year," Harry whispered to the two people sitting next to him. "Be pretty cool being able to do it don't you think?" he qiuetly asked Hermione and Draco. Both nodded and all three of them began to think of what they could do with a talking Patronus.

"Now, not everyone will be able produce a messager Patronus, and I don't mean just in class. It is very advanced magic, do don't be disheartened if you can't produce one. Now, to begin with we'll work on producing a normal Patronus. So everyone stand up and move away from the desks, if you will" the Professor told them. Once everyone was skattered around the classroom in small groups of three or four the Professor continued. "The incantation for a Patronus charm is _Expecto Patronum. _Now it is vital that the caster has a strong positive memory to use as fuel for the Patronus. The memory you choose can be anything from a day trip with your parents when you were younger to winning a Quidditch match. It is completely up to you. Now we'll go around these little groups you've all got yourselves into and see how you all do. And there is to be no laughing if someone cannot produce a corpereal Patronus, the mist is perfectly fine for now. Group one, you start" he said to the class, pointing to the group nearest to the front.

The Professor went round the whole class, group by group, encouraging everyone to produce a Patronus. Some students managed only a small mist, others, Like Harry, Hermione and Draco, produced corpereal Patronuses. Once everyone had achieved at least one or the other, the Professor then explained how to send messages.

"To send a message using your Patronus takes a lot of concentration. You need to know what the message is and then choose a memory that has the person you want to send a message to. You then need to then visualise yourself telling them your message in your mind. Work in your groups and attempt it and I'll come around in a while and see how everyones doing." And with that the room became silent as everyone concentrated, some going blue in the face because they stopped breathing. At the end of the lesson a couple of students, including Draco, Hermione and Harry, were able to make their Patronuses make noises, but no one had been able to make them talk.

"Alright class, that's it for today. Have a good remainder of the day and Happy Halloween. I hope to see you all at the Halloween feast tonight" Bonitas said and with that, the class began filling out the room.

"I didn't realise it was Halloween already" Hermione exclaimed as the made their way down to the Great Hall, "Are you okay Harry?" she asked the boy next to her. Draco looked at her confused, silently wondering why Harry wouldn't be okay on this day. Harry however chuckled.

"I'm fine Hermione. Better than fine" he told her before walking quicker to catch up with his dorm mates who were signalling him over.

"Why wouldn't he be okay on Halloween?" Draco asked curiously now that it was just the two of them.

"Harry and Halloween don't have a good track record" she told her boyfriend, but when he just looked at her confused she elaborated. "His parents died on his second Halloween. He wasn't allowed to go trick-or-treating when he was growing. First one in Hogwarts he had to fight a mountain troll to save me. Second one he was accused of petrifying Mrs. Norris. Third one his godfather attacked Hogwarts trying to protect him. Fourth he was entered into the Goblet of Fire by a Death Eater. Fifth he had to put up with everyone staring at him as though he was mad. Sixth he had to deal with Slughorn drooling all over him and last year we were on the run" she told him, counting them off on her fingers. By this time they were in the great Hall and sitting down to lunch. "I just hope this one is better than the others. At least he has Astoria this year." She said, happy that her best friend had found someone.

"Well this year is better than the others just due to the fact that the person who murdered his parents is not here anymore. It means his parents can rest in peace finally. Anything else is just an added bonus" he told her, having taken everything she had said into consideration. He smiled and chuckled when he saw the topic of their conversation walk into the Hall, his arm wrapped around Astoria as they talked in whispers between each other, both of them smiling like idiots. He nodded in there direction, "Consider it better" he told her, his smile growing as he saw her own smile spread across her face.

The rest of Halloween passed by uneventfully. There were no trolls to fight, no mad-men to avoid, no conspiracies to solve. All that happened was Harry and Astoria spending time with Hermione and Draco in the Heads room, each couple occupying there own chair by the fire. Humorous stories of Holidays past were told by each person causing laughter to reign throughout the room.

Unbeknownst to any of them however, Ron was stood outside listening to them laugh. He raised his hand to knock wanting to spend some time with his best friend, when out of no where the girl from the Astronomy tower was with him, grabbing hold of his fist and pulling him away from the portrait, an eerie smile on her flawless, pale face, her white eyes shining, from the lights in the corridor, like diamonds.

When Harry got back to the boys dorm in the Gryffindor tower hours later, Ron still wasn't back.

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Well, that was chapter 7. I hope you liked it and if you did, please hit the button below and review, they make me happy inside :)

Until next time people.


	8. Candy Canes and Kisses

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot. **

**Peace and Unity, Forever.**

Chapter Eight: Candy Canes and Kisses.

Time at Hogwarts passed uneventfully for the group of friends. Harry and Astoria were happier than ever and had just celebrated their five month anniversary. No one knew how, but everyone could see that the two were besotted with each other.

Ginny and Neville had finally got together at the first Quidditch match after-party, in a similar fashion Ron and Lavender had got together, but in a much more sweet and romantic way. They were still in the honeymoon period, but it looked as though it would last, if not forever, then for a very, very long time.

Ron and Luna were still together miraculously, although no one knew how Luna could put up with him. What everyone did know however, was that Luna and Blaise had been spending a lot of time together. When Draco asked Blaise one evening what he thought of Luna Blaise replied, "She cute, quirky, smart, and a lot of fun to hang around with. You can't not smile when you're with her. Just a shame she's still with Weasley." Everyone secretly hoped that she would dump Ron and go out with Blaise. They made an odd but cute couple.

Draco and Hermione were still going strong. They had been together for a total of two months altogether now. They were even more inseparable than Harry and Astoria. They sat together in nearly every lesson they had together, had their meals together and lived together, and they didn't annoy each other with their constant presence. A couple of times a week however they retreated to their separate house common rooms, just to give each other a little space.

The only problem that any of them had was Ron Weasley. Whether it was being unable to break up with him (Luna), staring at them (Harry and Astoria) or following them around a couple of steps back (Hermione and Draco). They thought that he was harmless, looking but not taking action. That was until the confrontation in the library, between him and Hermione.

* * *

_Hermione was in the library during her free period. She had to find a book to help her with her advanced __Arithmancy homework. She was just reaching up to grab her book when she felt someone walk up behind her. She innitially smiled thinking it was Draco surprising her, but when she didn't feel his strong arms wrap around her waist, she whipped around, her smile dropping quickley when she saw it was Ron. Quickley moving away from him so they were no longer touching, she glared at him._

"_What are you doing?" she asked him indignantly. She couldn't believe what he had just done. _

"_What are you on about?" Ron asked frowning in confussion. He looked around dasedly and realised he was in the library. He looked back up and found that Hermione had gone. He ran to the end of the aisle, just in time to see her exit the library and enter Draco's arms, kissing each other softly in welcome. _

_Suddenly he saw white._

* * *

Since then Ron hadn't talked to any of them. Not even Luna. Whenever they were together he would just sit there, staring at nothing, she didn't even know if he was even listening to her. She didn't wait around to find out if he talked at all anymore. Now she would go and meet Blaise in the courtyard after ten minutes of silence between herself and Ron.

It was now December and the final Hogsmeade visit of the year. The group decided that they would split up for an hour or so to buy each other their presents. After about half-an-hour Astoria met up with Hermione with a worried look on her face. Taking her to a quiet area of the town she asked the younger girl what was wrong.

"You know me and Daphne have to go home on Christmas Eve, day and Boxing Day?" when Hermione nodded in confirmation she continued. "Well, there's this dance that my family are holding. My cousin just got engaged and they want to celebrate. Anyway, I asked Harry if he's come with me, as my date, being my boyfriend it was obvious I was going to ask him. There's just one problem." She told the older girl, looking worried.

"What's the problem? I'm sure that the two of us can find a solution. Don't worry" Hermione told her encouragingly, smiling when the younger girl no longer looked so worried.

"I need to find a dress to wear. I know that doesn't seem like such a crisis, but for the first time I want to outshine Daphne. I also want to look perfect for Harry but I've got no idea what to choose. I want him to be proud to be seen with me. And I don't want to look fifteen either. I want to look like an adult, or at least like I'm in sixth year and not fifth. Please say you can help. You looked gorgeous at the Yule Ball. If anyone can help me it's you." She told Hermione with a pleading look. Hermione smiled at the girl before putting her arm around her shoulders and moving them in the direction of the clothes shops.

"Of course I'll help you. By the time we're done you'll look like a seventh year and no one will be able to keep their eyes off you, let alone Harry." She told her confidently.

Entering the dress shop, the two girls spent the next half hour looking at dresses in all shapes and sizes, in all different colours. They finally landed on the perfect dress, which was given to Hermione to hide in her dorm so that no one could find it and damage it.

* * *

When the group got back to Hogwarts Hermione and Draco quickly made there way up to their common room. Sitting on the couch together, leaning into one another, they enjoyed the peaceful silence and each other. After nearly and hour of just sitting next to each other, talking occasionally in whispers, Hermione rose from the couch and moved to the radio by the desks. Turning it on she tuned it to slow, soft music. Turning back to Draco she found him the middle of the large empty space in there common room, holding his hand out to her.

Smiling, Hermione moved towards him putting one hand in his and wrapping the other over his shoulder, while his other arm wrapped itself around her waist pulling her against him.

Slowly they began to sway side to side in a simple dance, but before to long they began spirally around the room laughing with each other slightly. Soon Draco was spinning Hermione in and out moving all around the room.

Eventually there movements slowed and the came to a complete stand still, a foot away from the sofa. Moving her head from Draco's shoulder and looking him in the eye, the two slowly began to close the gap between them and soon they were kissing. Moving them back slowly till the back to his legs hit the arm of the sofa, the two toppled back onto that cushions, there kiss breaking momentarily.

Looking in each others eyes, Draco raised his hand and brushed Hermione's hair behind her ear. Smiling sweetly at each other, they moved to kiss again, this time it getting deeper, causing both of them to moan slightly into each other's mouths. Before either of them knew it the clock in the room began to chime midnight, causing the two teens to pulls apart. Smiling shyly at each other they rose from the cushions and made there way up to there separate rooms, but not before a final goodnight kiss that revisited them both in there dreams.

* * *

It was Christmas Eve at Hogwarts and Harry and Astoria were preparing to leave for the Greengrass Christmas party. Both were slightly nervous but they hid it extremely well.

When their portkey landed the two found themselves in the entrance hall of the Greengrass manor. Astoria was just about to pull Harry up to the rooms when a door to the side opened and out stepped Mr Greengrass, smiling slightly at his youngest daughter on the arm of the most famous wizard in the world. "Welcome home Astoria, even if it is only for three days. Welcome to Greengrass Manor Mr Potter. I hope you enjoy your time here." He said walking towards them and kissing his daughter chastely on the forehead and shaking Harry's hand.

"Thank you for having me here Mr Greengrass" Harry said returning the strong handshake firmly, looking his girlfriends father in the eye, his occlumency shields up just in case. Mr Greengrass nodded at them before turning on his heel and going back into his office. Astoria sighed sadly before she grabbed Harry's hand and dragged him up to the rooms, smiling at her green-eyed wizard.

"This is you're room," she told him opening a door to a large bedroom in dark greens and blues. "There's an a-joining bathroom through that door," she said pointing to a door on the right, "And that door," she said pointing to another on the left of the room at one side of the bed, "Leads to my room, just in case you want to talk or something." She told him shyly looking down at the carpet, hoping that he wouldn't see her blush. When she felt his strong arms wrap around her waist she looked up to see him smiling gently before he leaned down and gave her a small kiss on the nose making her smile, just like he knew it would.

"I'll let you unpack and get used to this place a little. Come find me when you're done and I'll give you the grand tour, how does that sound?" she asked him, there arms still wrapped around each other in the doorway. Nodding they reluctantly released each other and Astoria made her way down the corridor to her room.

* * *

When Astoria finished showing Harry his home for the next three days they decided to spend sometime in the greenhouse at the bottom of the garden. Laying a blanket on the ground they lied down next to each other looking up at the sky and talking softly with each other about what the party was going to be like that night. Eventually a house-house invaded there privacy to inform them that lunch was ready, so sighing they made there way back up to the house, running half way when it started to snow.

Sitting in the dinning room, conversation was tense and stilted. Although the Greengrass family hadn't chosen sides during the war, the two elders were still slightly apprehensive about having 'the boy who defeated' in their house.

Clearing her throat slightly Mrs Greengrass looked over at Harry who was sitting next to her youngest daughter. "So Harry. What do plan on doing when you graduate in a couple of month's time? Not that you need to work I imagine." She asked, curious as to what the richest wizard in Britain wanted to do with his life no he was free to do as he wished.

Swallowing his food, Harry took a second to think about his answer. "I was going to go into law enforcement, but I recently discovered some old family businesses that have been looked after for my by several trustees. I hope that now I'm of age I'll be able to pick up the day to day running of them, learning my way around things, before I take complete control of them." He told his girlfriend and her family. He had only discovered this, a couple of weeks ago, but didn't want to say anything until everything was confirmed.

"Impressive Mr Potter. Very impressive." Mr Greengrass said from the head of the table. "Do you have any idea what your business deal in?" he asked, curious as to what the Potters associated themselves with in the past.

"It's mainly retail I believe, from what I've seen so far we supply the majority of the shops in Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade. There are also some research and potions lad that work for us as well." He told him, frowning slightly as he tried to remember if he'd forgotten anything.

"If they're linked to so many well known shops then why have we never heard of it? What's the name of you company anyway?" Mr Greengrass asked curiously.

"Figulus Elit. It's Latin for Potter Industries. They've been more a backseat company the last couple of decades or so, but I'm hoping to change that." He told them hoping that would be the end of the questions, he wasn't totally comfortable talking about his future plans with anyone, at least not until everything was finalised and in processing.

Luckily for Harry Mrs Greengrass interrupted and announced that it was about time that they all started to get ready for the party that night so with that the five of them made there way up to their own rooms to get ready.

Harry had just put on his trousers when he heard a knock from the door. "Come in Astoria" he said slightly louder than normal so she would hear him okay. Astoria walked in and immediately paused in the doorway at seeing Harry's toned and muscular chest bare. Chuckling softly when h realised she was staring at his chest; he grabbed his dress shirt and put it on. "What's wrong?" he asked her when her eyes moved from his chest and back up to his face.

"How come you didn't tell me about your family business? I was still under the presumption you were going into law enforcement" she asked, slightly put out that he hadn't trusted her enough to tell her his plans.

"It has nothing to do with trust Astoria so you can stop thinking I don't trust you, like I know your thinking right now," he told her walking over to her and pulling her into his arms. "I haven't told anyone about till today; because I wasn't 100% sure it was what I wanted to do. Now that I am sure, I wanted to wait till it was all final and being processed before telling anyone" he told her kissing her on the top of her head before rest his own against hers. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you, I just wanted everything to be final before saying anything. Forgive me?" he asked leaning back so he could see her face.

Wrapping her arms around his back, under his shirt, Astoria lifted her head and kissed Harry on the lips softly. Pulling back she smiled, "Of course I forgive you, silly." She told him, before bringing him down for another, longer kiss. They eventually broke apart when the need for oxygen became apparent. Kissing her forehead quickly Harry moved over to the chest of drawers in his room. Pulling out a black box he walked back over to Astoria.

"Early Christmas present. Hope you like it." He said handing her the box, which obviously had jewellery inside.

Smiling, she slowly opened the box and gasped at what she found inside. Looking back up at Harry with wide eyes she looked back at her present, not believing what she was seeing. Inside was a silver chain with a butterfly attached, carved from a single sapphire. If she didn't think it was perfect already, on one of the wings of the butterfly, her name was engraved into it. She couldn't believe he had got her something so beautiful. Not to mention expensive. Shaking her head she looked back up to Harry. "Harry this must have cost you a fortune, I can't accept this" she told him trying to give him the necklace back, but he wouldn't have any of it and merely pushed it back towards her.

"Nonsense. It's yours Astoria and only yours. That's why I had your name engraved in it. That's why it's in your favourite stone." Harry told her smiling slightly, happy that she liked it. He expected her to give him a quick kiss as a thank you. What he wasn't expecting was her to throw her arms around his neck and crash her lips to his in a passionate kiss.

Breaking apart, but keeping her arms wrapped around his neck Astoria beamed at her incredibly thoughtful, amazing boyfriend. "Thank you so much Harry. I love it. And I'll never take it off." She told him with a beaming smile before kissing his again quickly and retreating back to her room to finish getting ready. Now she couldn't wait for Harry to see her in her dress, and most importantly, her new necklace.

* * *

**Right, that was chapter 8! I hope you liked it :) the neck chapter will be the ball and some Hogwarts Christmas fluff.**

**Till then.**


	9. A Party Here, a Parting There

**Disclaimer: I own nothing, but the plot. **

Well it's not a long wait for this chapter. Hope you liked the last one and I hope you like this one too. On with the story.

**Peace and Unity, Forever.**

Chapter Nine: A Party Here, a Parting There. 

Once Harry was ready he made his way down to the entrance hall to wait for Astoria with her father. The two stood there in uncomfortable silence, neither knowing what to say to other. They were soon joined by Daphne's date for the party Adrian Pucey a former Slytherin Quidditch player who was two years ahead of Harry and Daphne.

"Adrian," Mr Greengrass exclaimed upon seeing the man, "Welcome back. May I introduce Harry Potter? He's young Astoria's boyfriend." He told the man.

"Good to see you again Harry. The Slytherins giving you a run for your money in Quidditch this year?" he asked, curious if the Gryffindors had lost there winning streak yet.

Harry chuckled, shaking the older boys hand, "We haven't faced them yet, but they've annihilated Ravenclaw. Draco's done a great job training them up this year." He told his former rival. Adrian laughed jubilantly, glad that his old house were now taking the game seriously.

"Well good luck with that, this might be there year" he told Harry smiling. "Say 'hello' to Draco for me will you when you get back. When do you go back by the way?" he asked, curious as to how long the younger boy would be staying with the Greengrass'.

"Harry and Astoria will be going back Boxing Day night. Daphne is staying the whole holiday however." Mr Greengrass interrupted the two of them. Before anything else could be said however, Mrs Greengrass began to descend the stairs, looking regal in old-fashioned styled cream and gold dress, her hair pilled high on her head. "You look beautiful my dear" her husband told her, taking her left hand and kissing the back of her fingers.

Next down the stairs was Daphne, who was dressed in an empire waist green dress that stopped just below her knees. Her hair was also piled on her head, but in a much smaller, less ornate version of her mothers. Adrian walked over to her and took both her hands in his, kissing both of them. "You look wonderful Daph" he told her before kissing her forehead gently. The two couples then moved towards the ballroom together, leaving Harry to wait for Astoria on his own, something he was actually grateful for when he saw her.

Astoria was dressed in a royal blue, one-shouldered silk dress that fell to the floor. She's curled her dark brown hair so that the soft ringlets fell down her back in waves, pieces pulled away from her face using diamond flower hair clips. Her Christmas present from Harry rested on her chest was shining in the candle light. _She looks amazing _Harry thought as he tried to pick his jaw up from the floor where it had fallen when he saw her.

When Astoria finally reached him at the bottom of the stairs, instead of just reaching his throat in height, she was now only slightly short of eye level. Placing his hands on her hips he leaned down and gently kissed her on the lips.

"You look amazing, Astoria. Absolutely breathtaking." He told her in a whisper, unable to speak any louder than that at that moment.

Blushing Astoria quietly thanked him before taking his hand and leading them towards the ballroom.

Walking into the ballroom, Astoria got the affect she wanted. Everyone seemed to take stock of the youngest Greengrass child, while Daphne didn't get the attention she received at previous parties, although she didn't seem to mind overall. It meant that she and Adrian could sneak off with each other whenever they wanted. Astoria meanwhile, ignored the majority of the looks she received and concentrated on spending time with Harry. When the music started up, it was Harry that pulled Astoria onto the dance floor first. She was surprised to see that he could really dance rather well.

"When did you learn to dance? I got the impression that your family wasn't one for dancing." She asked as they waltzed around the dance floor, Harry occasionally spinning her away from him and back in.

"Last year. Hermione taught me in the tent to pass the time. We got bored just the two of us and it stopped us worrying about our friends and family" he told her smiling at her surprised face. The two continued to dance the night away, until it was the end of the party.

Walking her back up to her room, Harry left Astoria at the door with a long, passionate goodnight kiss that left both of them breathless.

Back in is room, Harry undressed and quickly climbed under the covers. He was just on the brink of sleep when he heard a soft knock coming from the door on his left. "Come in" he mumbled, not having the energy to get up to answer it. He was initially concerned when he saw it was Astoria. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"Nothing" she told him, looking down at the ground all the while slowly moving towards Harry and the bed. "I just wanted to ask. Can I sleep in here with you?" she asked shyly, now stood next to the bed, her fingers playing with the duvet.

Taking a minute to think about it, Harry shifted across the bed and lifted the duvet so she could climb in. "Come on then" she said. Once Astoria was in she moved towards him and put her head on his shoulder and wrapped her arm around his waist, sighing when she felt Harry wrap his arms around her and kissed her head.

"Thank you" she whispered, before snuggling into her boyfriend for a good nights sleep. _And to think it'll be like this for a lot of Christmases to come. Perfect_ and that was her last thought before she drifted off to sleep, safe in the arms of her Harry.

* * *

Back at Hogwarts it was Christmas celebrations as usual. Hagrid had been busy dragging half a dozen trees up from the forest to be place in the Great Hall. Flitwick had charmed the lights to shine and glow night and day and Professor King had created numerous new ornaments from bits and pieces found around the castle.

The only difference between this Christmas and Christmases of the past was that there were even less students there than ever before. Now that the war was over, families were spending more and more time with each other, savouring all the time they had together.

Hermione and Draco were the only two of their group that remained at Hogwarts completely during the holiday, and that suited them just fine.

It was Christmas Eve when Draco walked up to Hermione sitting on the sofa in the heads common room. In his hand, he held a blanket and an empty jar. Standing in front of her, he took hold of her hand and pulled her up onto her feet and summoning her coat, hat, scarf and gloves. Once she was a bundled up as he was, he pulled her out the common room and they began to make their way down the corridors of Hogwarts. When Hermione realised that he was leading her outside she looked up at him, curious as to what he had planned.

"Where are we going?" she asked him as they walked past the stones leading to Hagrid's hut.

"I thought, that instead of staying coped up in to tower all day, that we would have a picnic by the lake. I've asked a house-elf to prepare a basket for us, that should be waiting for us down there." He told her with a smile fully intending on sharing his favourite time of year with his favourite girl.

Hermione smiled and wrapper her other arm around the one that was holding her hand. Leaning her head on his shoulder she told him "That's so sweet Draco. Thank you. But what's the jar for?" she asked, wondering what possible use the jar could have at a picnic.

"I figured that we'd both get cold at some point, even if we are bundled up in hats and scarves. The jar is so we can conjure up some blue fire to keep up warm." He told her, his thumb unconsciously rubbing the back of her hand as they carried on walking down to the lake. "And it'll stop us from accidentally setting the ground on fire if we become distracted" he added with a smile making her giggle as she realised just what 'distraction' he meant.

When they finally reached the shore they quickly scanned around them to find the basket. When Hermione saw it she pulled Draco along until they reached the tree the basket was under. Draco then handed her the jar to hold while he spread the blanket on the ground, vanishing and drying the ground first. When he turned back round he saw that Hermione had already cast the blue fire in the jar and place it down on the ground near them. They sat down on the ground, Draco leaning against the tree, Hermione leaning against Draco, they cracked open the basket and began to eat all the treats they found inside, talking and occasionally kissing between bites. It was a perfect Christmas Eve by all accounts, and they could wait for tomorrow.

* * *

When the sky began to darken and the cold began to creep past the enchanted flames the two decided that it was about time to head back inside. Since neither of them wanted to part yet, the decided to lie down together on the floor in front of the fire in there common room.

Relaxing together, neither felt the need for conversation. They were both happy just being together. Eventually Hermione leaned up and rested her head in her hand and looked down at Draco, who had his eyes closed and a lazy smile across his face.

Leaning over, she gently kissed him on the forehead, before slowly kissing down the centre of his face, his nose and then lips. When there lips met he took no time in wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her on top of him. Wrapping his hand within her hair he kept her lips locked with his as he gently turned them over, so that he was now leaning over her, careful to keep his full weight off Hermione.

Eventually their hands began to wonder up and down the torsos of each other, causing the both of the moan slightly in each other's mouths. Before it could go too far however, the two pulled apart, simultaneously, breathless but happy. Rolling back onto his back at Hermione's side, Draco stared up at the roof of the common room, both trying to catch there breathe. When there breathing returned to normal Draco stood up and held out is hand to Hermione to help her up. They parted at the bottom of the stairs leading to their rooms, sharing another kiss, to keep of the chill of night.

* * *

Meanwhile in Ottery St Catchpole, Blaise had just apparated to the outskirts of the Lovegoods new home. He didn't fully understand why, but he did know that he needed to see Luna. Walking around the garden of the house he eventually saw her leave through the door, heading down the dirt path to the small village at the bottom of the hills. Sighing in satisfaction that he'd seen even a climps of the girl, Blaise took a deep, calming breath and disappearated back to Zabini Manor. He didn't notice that Luna had seen him stood on the outside of the garden and was looking over her shoulder at him, hoping that he'd follow her. With what she was about to do, she would have appreciated his support.

Making her way towards the Burrow, Luna could hear the raouctious laughter that always seemed to flow from the oddly shaped building. _Great _she thought to herself as she made her way to the front door, _that makes what I'm about to do so much harder. And meaner _she thought as she knocked. She had to wait no more than a couple of seconds before the door was thrown open and she was pulled into a tight hug by Mrs Weasley.

"Happy Christmas Mrs Weasley" Luna said politely. She followed Mrs Weasley into the kistchen and was greeted by all the Weasley family. She looked around at all the smiling, cheerful faces. Eventually she found the face she wanted to see. Ron was stood in the doorway leading to the living room. Walking up to him saying hello to everyone on the way, Luna pulled him into the living room with her. Closing the door and turning around she saw that he was sat on the sofa, staring at her with resigned eyes, as though he somehow knew what she was about to tell him. Sighing sadly Luna sat down next to him on the sofa.

"Ron, there's no easy way to say this. I think we should end this now instead of prolonging the innevitable. We don't spend anytime with each other and when we do there's little to no conversation. And when there is conversation all you talk about is Slytherin conspiracies. And I'm tired of defending my friends to you, nothing works." She told him looking up at him to see his eyes looking at something over her shoulder. When she turned her head to look at what had Ron's attention she didn't see anything. Turning back to Ron she saw he had a small silly smile on his face.

"Ron?" she asked, wondering where in his mind he had escaped to. When his eyes returned to her's there was a slight white glow around his pupils that seemed to swirl around his irises. "Do you understand me? We're breaking up." She told him, hoping that his famous Weasley temper wouldn't rear it's head. She was shocked when he eventually replied.

"I understand Luna. No hard feelings. There's someone who understands anyway." And with that he stood up and walked past her and around the sofa before making his way up to his room. Frowning slightly in confussion she looked down at his hand when she realised that it was slightly behind his body, shaped as though he was holding someones hand, despite the fact that there was no one there. Shaking her head, thinking she'd imagined it, she bid her goodbyes to the rest of the family and made her way back home, hoping that Blaise had visited again and was waiting for her.

She was very dissapointed when no one was waiting for her outside her house.

* * *

Back at Greengrass Manor, Harry was just beginning to wake from a peacful, comfortable sleep. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes he soon realised that there was an added weight to his chest. He was seconds from panicing before he remembered that Astoria had come into the bedroom and the two of them fell asleep.

Looking down at the girl in his arms he saw that she was still asleep, with a small, content smile on her face. She looked so peacful and beautiful that he couldn't help but place a gentle kiss on her head, hoping that it wouldn't wake her. He was too happy watching her sleep for her to wake just yet. With one arm still wrapped around her back, cradling her to his chest, his other hand made it's was slowly into her hair where his fingers entangled themselves in her dark brown hair. Hearing her content sigh, Harry smiled and closed his eyes again before gently resting his head near her's and trying to get a little more sleep in.

Nearly and hour later Astoria woke up from her slumber and remembering that she was in Harry's room, Harry's bed and harry's arms, she couldn't stop the silly grin that spread across her face as she burrowed her head into Harry's bare chest, waking him slightly in the process. Acting quickly before he woke up completely, she leaned up and kissed Harry gently on the lips before pulling back to see him opening his eyes and blinking quickly to get the sleep from them. When he saw Astorias smiling, somewhat blurred, face above him he could help but smile back before pulling her back down for another kiss, this one lasting quite a bit longer than the other.

Eventually the two broke apart when the need for oxygen became to much. Smiling at each other the moved up the bed so they were leaning against the headboard. Distangling himself so he could reach for his glasses, Harry's smile brightened considerably when his eyes came into sharp focus and the first thing he saw was the smily face of his girlfriend.

"Merry Christmas Harry" Astoria said before she kissed him again. When he responded in kind she snuggled back into his arms, closing her eyes in happiness. Soon however she realised that her parents would be expecting the two of them in the living room soon. "I should go get dressed. They'll be wanting us in the living room soon. We have presents to open!" she told him, practically jumping up and down on the bed in excitement.

Harry couldn't help but laugh at Astoria's anctics. "You're adorable you know that?" he told her with a smile causing her to beam at him. "Now since I don't think you're parents will be happy with you coming out my room, why don't you sneak back to your room to get dressed? I'll meet you in the hall" he told her.

After fifteen minutes the two met up in the hall way and made there way down to the living room where the rest of the family as well as Adrian was waiting for them. Harry's presents had been brought over from Hogwarts and the small extended family spent the next couple of hours opening presents, intermidedly itterupted as hugs of grattitude passed form one to another.

The rest of the day passed uneventfully. The only real noteworthy incident was that while everyone had gone on to do their separate things, Mr Greengrass and Harry had got to know each other and by the end of boxing day the two could converse with no awkward pauses, much to Astoria happiness.

* * *

Back at Hogwarts, Hermione and Draco decided that they were going to spend the entire day in the Heads room, only leaving for dinner. The two opened and exchanged all their gifts together in the common room, which inevitably led to kissing as they showed there appreciation for the gifts each other got each other.

The day passed uneventfully for the two of them, and all too soon the rest of the school arrived back for a new year. Even though neither of them said anything, they both knew that something was going to happen this year; they both just hoped that they would be able to help each other through it when it arrived.

* * *

Right that was chapter 9. I had no real idea what to write for Hermione and Draco's Christmas so that's why it's so short and not really personal.

What did you think of Ron? Kind of weird, huh? And Blaise sneaking to see Luna. So sweet (if I do say so myself).

On another note, there probably won't be another update until after Tuesday (I've got a job interview that day so my mind won't be in writing mode (more like worry mode).

Anyway. Till next time


	10. Talking Time

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot. **

I'm back with chapter 10! Sorry for the week delay, but hopefully *finger's crossed* the next chapter will be up much quicker than this one. Anyway, enjoy this chapter and tell me what you think after.

**Peace and Unity, Forever.**

Chapter Ten: Talking Time.

It was a week since all the students had returned to Hogwarts and two weeks since Luna had ended things with Ron. Since then he had been spending more and more time alone in the Astronomy Tower. When on the rare occasion that another student stumbled upon him, they didn't stay with the mumbling boy for very long.

Luna was becoming the cheerful, bubbly person she was before all the troubles with Ron began. All her friends were happy with the change in the young girl, especially Blaise, who was spending as much of his spare time with the pretty blonde girl as he could. Everyone was expecting the Slytherin to ask the Ravenclaw girl out any day, but Blaise told them that he was giving her some time to get fully over Ron to ensure that he wasn't a rebound boyfriend, but just a normal boyfriend. He'd had rebound relationships in the past and knew that they didn't work or last and that was definitely something he didn't want.

Everyone thought that the two made the sweetest couple and were all glad that Luna had finally got rid of Ron so that she could become herself again. Luckily for them, because of everyone was busy with there own relationships, Blaise and Luna were left peacefully to work out the foundations of there possible future relationships. However, it also meant that no one was paying attention to the scheming of Ronald.

This meant that when Ronald had an argument with his Ginny in the common room, it came as a great surprise to everyone, who had quite forgotten that Ron had a vendetta against them because of there relationships with the Slytherins.

"Have the Slytherins made there move yet? Or have they decided to let Harry and Hermione go?" he asked her in a light whisper as she sat down on the sofa. Ginny slowly turned her head towards him with a look of indignation at what her brother was asking.

"I don't believe you Ron" she told him, frowning at his suggestion.

"I'm just concerned for my friends. That's what good friends do. If you were a good friend to them you'd be concerned for them too." He told her shaking his head sadly at his younger sister. Ginny couldn't do anything but stare open mouthed at her brother. Ron continued not noticing her expression. "When they're themselves again I'm sure they'll forgive you for not being concerned. Don't worry." He told her before opening his Quidditch magazine.

"You're being ridiculous Ronald!" she told him, not believing what Ron was telling her. "No one is doing anything to Harry and Hermione. They're in a relationship with kind nice people that they have things in common with." She told him trying to remain calm and speaking like she was talking to a small child, which is exactly what her brother was acting like.

"They don't have that much in common, other wise they'd be in the same house." He told her as though it was completely obvious.

"HOUSES DON'T MATTER!" she shouted at him jumping up from the sofa her temper finally breaking. "All the houses are is a coloured badge. They don't mean anything. It's the person that counts not what animal and colour is sown onto there clothes. Why don't you see that?" she asked angrily, not understanding exactly why her brother was acting like that.

"They're dangerous people" he told her, "Everyone in that house is evil and if they're not evil yet, they will be soon enough." He told her before looking back down at his magazine.

"They're not evil! Everyone in that house was affected by the war, everyone has changed. For the better. That's why Harry and Hermione are with Astoria and Draco. Because they've seen the change in them. The sooner you see that the better." She told him, before turning to make her way over to Neville who was stood watching the two of them from the portrait hole. Just as she reached him she heard Ron's reply.

"Well we'll see. Everyone will see. There'll be no evil in world one day" he said quietly, thinking that Ginny wasn't listening to him. He then stood up and made his way out the common room and up to the boys' dorm. Downstairs, Ginny and Neville shared a concerned look, both thinking the same.

What is Ron up to? With that in mind the two went off to talk to Harry Hermione and Draco about what Ron might do.

* * *

Meanwhile down the dungeons Astoria was sitting silently at one of the desks in the Slytherin common room doing her Charms homework. She was nearly finished when all of a sudden her quill was snatched from her hands. Looking up and preparing to tell whoever it was to give her, her quill back she found herself looking into the identical eyes of her older sister, who was smiling down at her.

"What do you want Daphne? I'm trying to do my charms homework." She told her before she rummaged through her bag for another quill to use. Her quill was put in front of her face and waved slightly as Daphne continued to smile. Grabbing the quill from her sister, Astoria carried on with her essay, ignoring Daphne as she sat down opposite her. They were both sitting quietly not talking to each other.

Suddenly Daphne spoke. "How's Harry?" she asked her younger sister still reading the text book and trying to look as though she was making idle conversation. Astoria looked up from her essay, curious as to what Daphne was up to.

"He's fine, why?" she answered, frowning in confused curiosity at why her sister was asking how her boyfriend was.

"No reason." Daphne replied looking into Astoria's eyes. "Just taking an interest as to how my sister's love life. There's nothing wrong with that is there?" she asked with an innocent look on her face.

"Okay what do you really want? You haven't taken an interest in our relationship so far, why are you so interested in it now?" she asked her sister, not believing for one minute that her sister was genuinely interested in herself and Harry's relationship.

"I don't know what you mean my dear little sister" she told her innocently before picking up another one of Astoria's textbooks and flicking through them nonchalantly. Astoria frowned at her sister who was still looking innocently through her text book. She went back down to her essay and continued writing. She had just finished writing her essay and began packing her bag when Daphne spoke again. "How far have you gone then?" she asked still flipping through the text book.

"What?" she asked, incredulous as to what her sister just asked. Daphne continued to flip through the text book.

"How far have you got with him? It's a simple question." She said finally closing the book and putting it back on the table and looking up at her sister. "Well?" she asked exasperatedly.

"None of your business Daph! Why would you ask me that?" she asked him shocked at what her sister was asking.

"Oh, come on Tori. He's two years older than you. It's obvious that you're going to have to do something to keep his attention from weaning. How else would you keep him?" she asked rhetorically.

"Harry wouldn't expect me to do anything I don't feel comfortable with. And he certainly wouldn't dump me if I didn't do anything. He's not like that; he's not like other guys who are with younger girls. Adrian wasn't, isn't like that." She said, trying to hide the fact that she was ever so slightly scared that what Daphne said had a shred of truth in it. _Harry wouldn't make me do anything that I didn't want to do. He's a gentleman _she thought as she reached over and grabbed the book Daphne had flipped through.

"Of course he didn't push me into doing anything," she told her. "I knew I had to keep him interested so he wouldn't wander. You my little sister have a lot to learn." She said before standing up and making her way up to her dorm, leaving a scared nervous Astoria behind. Shaking her head she quickly stuffed her books in her bag and left to find Harry. She tried to get rid of what Daphne had said but no matter how much she tried, she couldn't help but think _what if it's true?_

* * *

Up in the Heads common room Ginny and Neville were telling Harry, Hermione and Draco what Ron had said in the Gryffindor tower.

"I don't think he wanted anyone to hear what he said he was kind of mumbling. He didn't say anything else afterwards either." Ginny told the pacing boys from the sofa. She and Neville had arrived five minutes ago and the boys had been pacing for four minutes.

"What do you think he's planning?" Hermione asked in general as she watched the two boys pace up and down in front of the fire. She was silently waiting for them to bump into each other.

"No idea." "No clue." Harry and Draco replied at the same time, just before they jumped into each other, cause them to glare slightly at each other and Hermione and Ginny to giggle quietly while Neville just smile amused.

"Do you think that Luna would know something?" Hermione asked, curious if Ron had mentioned anything to Luna.

"No, Luna wouldn't know. She said that all Ron did when they were together was mumble under his breath. She said she couldn't understand what he was saying that eventually started to practically ignore him when they met up. She won't know." Neville told them.

"Well there has to someone in this school who could tell us what he's planning?" Harry exclaimed throwing his hands in the air in exasperation before collapsing onto the chair and putting his head in his hands. Draco collapsed onto the sofa next to where Hermione was sat on the arm of the sofa. When he threw his head back and closed his eyes he smiled slightly when he felt Hermione wrap her arms around his shoulders and lean her head on his.

"No one talks to him. Everyone is avoiding him because they think he's gone stark raving mad planning a way to destroy all snakes" Hermione told them, her voice turning into a menacing whisper as she said the last bit, making the other four laugh. When they all calmed down again Hermione continued. "We'll just have wait and see what he does and stop it when it does. There's nothing more we can do but wait till whatever it is he's going to do, happens." She told them calmly, running her fingers through her boyfriend's hair. With that said the five of them moved onto more cheerful conversations. Soon they heard a frantic knocking on the portrait. Standing up and making her way over to the entrance, as soon as Hermione opened the portrait Astoria pushed past and ran straight to Harry grabbing his hand pulling him out the Heads room, leaving everyone else looking after them confused.

* * *

Astoria dragged Harry to the nearest empty classroom. Once they were both inside Astoria let go of Harry's hand and dropped her school bag before shutting the door and warding it for privacy. Turning back round when she was certain that they wouldn't be disturbed, she saw Harry had a look of confusion on his face but she didn't pay that much attention to it as she pushed him against the wall before kissing him straight on the mouth, almost immediately deepening it, startling Harry.

Harry was in fact so startled that he only snapped out of his trance when he felt Astoria begin to kiss down his neck while her delicate hands began loosening his tie and unbuttoning the first buttons of his shirt. It was then that Harry eventually pulled away and moved to hold Astoria at arms length. "Astoria what's going on? You're never like this?" he asked her wondering what had gotten into his usually calm, level-headed girlfriend.

"Nothing's going on." She told him before moving in to kiss him again. They carried on kissing for a couple of minutes before Harry pulled back and held Astoria at arms length, looking at her concerned she was acting so out of character.

"Astoria stop!" he told her, frowning in confusion. His expression quickly changed to a sympathetic one when he saw Astoria's eyes begin to water. He quickly pulled her into his arms just as she began to cry quietly. Stroking her hair he told that everything was okay. When Astoria finally got her tears under control Harry gently pulled back so he could look her in her beautiful face. "Now, will you please tell me what's wrong? I'm worried." He told her gently, still stroking her hair in a soothing matter.

"It's nothing Harry, don't worry. I'm just being silly," she told him sniffling slightly. "Just forget this happened, okay. Please" she asked him quietly not looking him in the eyes. She went to move out his arms but he quickly pulled her back into his arms and moved them over to a desk when he made her sit down. Kneeling down in front of her he gently raised her head so that she was looking at him.

"Now, I want you to tell me what happened to make you act so out of character. Please, you can tell me anything you know that," he told her wiping the few tears that were still running down her face. "Now please, talk to me." he said gently.

Astoria sniffed slightly. "It's just something that Daphne said to me earlier" she told him vaguely hoping that he wouldn't push the issue. When he raised his eyebrow at him she sighed before telling him everything. "Daphne said that because you were older than me that I had to do something to keep your interest from wandering. I tried to ignore her and I thought that I had, but I guess that she got to me." she told him, her head dropping down again so that she wouldn't see the look in Harry's eyes.

Harry sighed sadly, "Astoria, I would never, ever pressure you to do anything. And you should know that you don't have to do anything to 'keep me interested'" he told using air quotes for the last part. When Astoria still wouldn't look at him he put his hand under her chin and gently lifted her head so that she was looking at him. "My attention isn't going to wander sweetheart. I'm just worried that you actually think that I expect you to do something you don't want to do. Do you honestly believe that I would do that?" he asked her, worried that that was what she actually thought.

Astoria shook her head as tears began to pool in her eyes again. "No I know you're not like that at all. I'm sorry I never should have listened to Daph I should have trusted you. I'm so sorry," she said as she threw her arms around Harry and hugging him as though he were her lifeline. "Forgive me?" he heard her ask, her voice muffled by his robe.

"Of course I forgive you Astoria. There's nothing to forgive. You just a little freaked out. But next time you're having doubts about me or us, please come and talk to me?" he asked her taking her hands in his and rubbing his thumb over the back of them.

"Okay I promise." She told him leaning down and kissing him gently before hugging him tightly and tucking her head under his chin. She couldn't believe that she had been so silly and let what Daphne said get to her. _No more jumping to conclusions. From now on if I'm worried I'll talk to my Harry about it. Hmm, MY Harry. I like the sound of that_ she thought smiling into Harry's chest, enjoying the feel of his arms wrapped around her. She felt like she was in heaven. And to her, heaven was beyond perfect.

* * *

Well chapter ten is up. Sorry again that it took so long to upload, but I'm back! Yaaaay!

Anyway, the good news is that I've also written two chapters that are from the future so now all I have to write is the chapters in between.

So, I hoped that you enjoyed this chapter and I'll update again soon(ish).

UNLO


	11. Be Mine? I Already Am

**Disclaimer; I don't own anything but the plot. **

Well another chapter is up. Hope you enjoy.

R&R.

Chapter Eleven: Be Mine? I Already Am.

After Harry had finished comforting and reassuring Astoria he took her hand and walked her down to the Slytherin common room. Kissing her goodbye at the entrance, Astoria watching ascend back to the upper levels of the school, wishing that he could stay with her in the dungeons just once. Sighing sadly she turned, mumbled the password miserably and entered the common room. When she entered the room the first person her eyes sought was her sister.

Frowning she made her way over towards where he sister was sitting, dropping her bag on the way, she stood in front of Daphne, with her arms crossed over her chest. Looking up at her sister, Daphne smiled innocently. "Yes, dear sister?" she asked sweetly.

"Why did you say all that stuff earlier?" Astoria asked curious as to why her sister would make her worry unnecessarily. Her frown deepened when she saw Daphne's smile widen.

"Just trying to warn you about what will most likely happen. You need to know now so that when it happens you won't be hurt. I don't want you to be hurt." She told her softly. Astoria just shook her head at her sister.

"I told you Harry's not like that when you said all that rubbish. And I shouldn't have let you get to me like that. I nearly risked the most important thing in my life because of what you said to me. And I want to know why you said that? Tell me why you made me so nervous about me and Harry that I nearly ruined our relationship. Tell Me!" she shouted at her sister coming to the end of her patience with her sister. Daphne and the rest of the Slytherins that were in the common room, looked up and at Astoria when they heard her shout.

Daphne stood up slowly and stared down at her slightly shorter sister. "You are fifteen years old Astoria and Harry is eighteen. Do you honestly think that you're relationship is going to last long. I'm amazed that it lasted as long as it has. I would have thought he'd have his way then leave. And you need to realise that because that is all he wants. He's going to build a life with someone his own age. Not a little girl like you." She told her before turning to walk up to her dorm. Astoria's voice stopped her though.

"If what you've said is true, aren't you worried about Adrian?" she asked looking at the back of her sister's head. When Daphne stopped in her tracks she continued, "He is two years older than you, just like Harry's two years older than me. If you're theory is right then surely Adrian will toss you aside as soon as he gets what he wants as well? And you've been together for, what's it been now, five months? That's two _less_ than me and Harry." She said, contemplatively as though she was just airing thoughts. "I'd be worried the next time he owls. But I'm sure you'll be fine Daphne." She told her sister walking up behind her stricken sister, who seemed unable to move at the moment.

Patting her on the shoulder she leaned in and whispered in her ear, "After all, you know best. Don't you?" she asked rhetorically, before picking up her bag and moving up to her own dorm, a slight smile on her face, secretly pleased that she had stood up for herself and defended hers and Harry's relationship in front of her entire house. And although she wouldn't like to admit, she felt slightly good about making her sister worry about her relationship, just as she'd done to her.

* * *

The next day it seemed as though the entire school knew about the argument between the two Greengrass girls, though both of them acted the same as they usually did. The only noticeable thing about the two of them that hinted that the two had fought was the fact that they didn't talk, or even acknowledge each other. This carried on and soon it was Valentine's Day and the two still hadn't spoken a word to each other. Harry and Draco had both tried to find out what had happened between the two sisters but both were being very tight lipped about the whole thing. Eventually the two boys had stopped trying and unanimously decided that they would let the sisters work things out themselves.

Due to the fact that Valentines Day landed in the middle of the week, the Headmistress had decided that there wouldn't be an event, disappointing the many girls that wanted a Valentines Ball. The majority of the older students however were very thankful there wasn't a ball. There was only one older student who was slightly unhappy at the prospect of having no ball.

Blaise had been trying for weeks to build up the courage to ask Luna out and was hoping that asking her to be his date for the ball would be the opportune moment to ask her. And now all his plans have been ruined, which worried the boy greatly.

Valentine's morning broke bright and early and Blaise was up as the sun rose, knowing that Luna was an early riser. He wanted to be able to talk to her without other's listening in or heaven forbid interrupting. Changing into his school robes and grabbing his satchel and Luna's present, Blaise quickly made is way out the common room and up to the upper levels of the castle.

He was walking down the corridor leading to the Ravenclaw Tower when out walked Luna, dressed and prepared for the day ahead, something hidden behind her back. As soon as the two saw each other, smiles broke out across there faces and they simultaneously sped up and met each other with a tight hug, causing there smiles to widen, if it were possible. Breaking apart reluctantly the two greeted each other, arms still wrapped around each other partially.

Smiling down at the girl in his arms Blaise reached into his satchel and pulled out a neatly wrapped blue and green present and held it out for Luna to take. Smiling shyly she also handed Blaise her own present for him. Both blushing slightly, they opened each other's gifts and each gasped when they saw what the other had got them.

Luna couldn't believe what Blaise had got her. She looked down at her hands, amazed that the older boy had been listening so intently to her when they talked about her passion for drawing. In her hands she held a personalised sketchbook, made of the finest leather, with one of her very own drawings engraved onto the front cover and her name engraved along the spine. On the back was a message from Blaise to her.

_You make the longest day short,_

_The darkest day light,_

_You make time seem endless,_

_I could spend forever in you're company,_

_You're everything I could ever want,_

_I only have one thing to ask._

_Will you please?_

_Be Mine. _

Luna gently ran her fingers over the engraving, one of her tears falling from her face and landing on her new sketch book. She looked up and Blaise who was now watching her, his customised music notebook in his hand. He gently raised one of his hands to Luna's cheek and wiped her tears with his thumb before caressing her cheek. Luna smiled and closed her eyes at the contact. When she reopened her eyes, she found herself falling into Blaise's forest green eyes.

With his hand still on her cheek, Blaise whispered softly, "Will you be mine?" he asked looking straight into her eyes. Luna smiled before leaning up and pressing a soft gentle kiss to his lips. When she pulled back she saw that his eyes were still closed, as though he was savouring the moment.

"I'm already yours. I have been for a while," she told him and as soon as the words were past her lips, Blaise's eyes popped open causing Luna's smile to widen. "I always will be, for as long as you want me. I'll be yours" she told him and before she could say another word, Blaise had pulled her into his arms and proceeded to kiss her thoroughly in delirious happiness.

The two barely made it to breakfast before it was time for class.

* * *

Up in the Heads common room Hermione was waking up and blinking sleep out of her eyes. When her sense finally came back to her realised that something was amiss in her room. Looking around she saw that on every available surface there were vases and vases of stargazer lilies. It took her amount to remember that today was Valentines Day and when she did, she realised that Draco, sweet caring thoughtful Draco, had found a way to fill her room with her favourite flower.

Smiling she got out of bed and got ready for her day. Before she left her room however she grabbed one of the lilies and tucked it into her hair, so that she would always have part of Draco's surprise with her. Grabbing Draco's gift she practically skipped down the stair and when she saw Draco waiting for her in the common room, she flew into his arms and hugged him tightly as she said good morning with a kiss. They the two parted, both of them were smiling giddily.

"Happy Valentines Day Mia" Draco told her stroking her cheek his smile widening when he saw one of the lilies in her hair. "Like your head piece." He told her, nodding at the flower in her hair. Hermione smiled and reached up to touch the lily before leaning forward and kissing Draco again.

"Thank for the flowers. They're beautiful," she told him with a grin before she handed him the small parcel that she held. "This is for you," she told him as she gave her gift to him, "Happy Valentines Day." He kissed her forehead as he handed her, her own gift, wishing her a happy Valentines Day also.

The two of them ripped through the paper and both of them gasped quietly when it was revealed what the other had got each other. They looked up and each other in shock before looking back down at their gifts.

Draco couldn't believe what Hermione had got him. He stared shocked at the tie pin and cufflinks that were emblazed with his modified family crest. He knew that the crests he was looking down at now were the ones that he himself had modified, though he had no idea how Hermione had got the drawings of them. He wasn't complaining though because the results were absolutely amazing. He looked up from his gift when he heard Hermione's 'aww' at what was inside the box he's given her.

In Hermione's arms she held a small brown tabby kitten that was presently licking Hermione's face causing her to giggle at the antics of the tiny kitten. She knew that Draco knew that she had been very sad since Crookshanks passed away just after school started again after Christmas, but she didn't think that he would actually buy her a brand new, adorable kitten. With one arm still firmly holding her new kitten she reached her other hand around Draco's neck and pulled him down for a kiss. When the two pulled back she had a brilliant smile on her face as she looked up into the face of her boyfriend.

"Thank you so, so much Draco. I love it, it's so adorable" she told him before she started to stroke the small kitten's head again. Still looking down at the fluffy ball of fur she asked, "What's it called?" looking between the two.

"She's called Amor. But you can change her name if you don't like it." He told her, leaving out the fact that Amor was Latin for love. She of course knew what Amor meant, but neither of them were quite ready to talk about that yet. Draco cleared his throat nervously before looking back down at Hermione. "Thank you for the tie pin and cufflinks. How did you get the drawing of the crest's new design?" he asked curious as to how she got them.

"I saw them on the table and got the idea of getting them made into those" she told him nodding to the gifts in his hands. "I made a copy of them and sent them to a jeweller. You don't mind do you? I know I should have asked before using them, but I wanted to surprise you." She told him, nervous that he would feel that she intruded into his personal business.

Draco smiled and raised her head so that they were looking each other in the eye. "Of course I don't mind that you made a copy of my new crest. And I love my present, thank you so much Hermione." He told her before leaning down and kissing her. The two broke apart quicker than either would have liked however, as a small furry head butted there's causing them to break apart and laugh at the adorable little animal in Hermione's arms. Smiling she put down the little kitten in the bed that she found on the sofa, another part of Draco's gift and left Amor some food and toys to play with. When she was certain that Amor would be okay, Hermione and Draco grabbed each other's hand and made there way out the common room and down to the Great Hall.

The rest of Valentines Day passed by uneventfully, with no incidents occurring what so ever, which everyone was grateful for when the remember the nightmare that was Valentines Day Lockhart style. And no one wanted a repeat of that fiasco.

* * *

Well that was chapter 11. Hope you enjoyed it. Had no idea how to start this chapter, which is why it took so long to get up. I think I rewrote the beginning about five times before I was happy with this.

Anyway. Hope you enjoyed a trip this Valentines Day themed chapter. What did you think of the gifts? Which were you favourite? I was going to put Harry and Astoria's gift exchange in here as well, but I thought that there was enough Astoria in this chapter, what with the confrontation with Daphne in here. But let me know what you think, and if you want a Harry/Astoria gift exchange I'll write one up and post it as a separate story.

Till next time.


	12. Show Me the Inner Me

**Peace and Unity, Forever. **

Chapter Twelve: Show Me the Inner Me.

It was now early March and the sun was rising earlier, the birds were beginning to sing again and flowers were starting to bloom again. And like nature the relationships inside Hogwarts were also blossoming.

Ginny and Neville were now going strong and spending practically all there time with each other, and spending less and less time in the Heads common room, instead preferring to spend time in one of the many greenhouses, where Neville was tutoring Ginny in Herbology. When they weren't hunched over books or plants, the two could be found kissing behind the giant plant plots and exotic plants that could be found in the greenhouses. Somehow the two were never caught, despite frequently being out after curfew.

Blaise and Luna were basking in the newness of their relationship; spending even more time with other than they did before, many students wondering how they could spend even more time with each other as the two seemed to be inseparable when they weren't dating. Now it was as though the two were attached to hip, only parting with each other when they had classes and to sleep in there own common rooms. Everyone thought that the two made the most adorable couple and that they were perfect for each other. Blaise and Luna however, paid no attention to what everyone else thought or said, too lost in each other and there own private world to really pay any heed to what was being said about them. Even if it was all complimentary.

Harry and Astoria were just as strong as they ever were, especially after the talk the two had in the abandoned classroom after 'the incident' as they now referred to Astoria's moment of doubt and confusion. The two had been spending a lot of time together in one of the abandoned dungeon rooms, converting it into their own little common room having transfigured the most of the desks and chairs into a sofa and some matching chairs. The two of them were perfectly content in their own little corner of the castle, away from prying eyes and interfering students. The two had started to talk about their plans for when they graduate, he in a couple of months, her in two years. Although neither of them said it out load, they both knew that they would still be together when Astoria graduated and both were extremely happy about that thought.

Draco and Hermione had become even closer than they were previously and had been spending more and more time with each other in the common room, talking with each other well into the night, usually resulting in the two of them falling asleep in the sofa together. Both found that they slept much better when they were together now than they did along and both were always very happy when they woke up in each other's arms having fallen asleep on the sofa the night before. Both knew however, that neither were ready to move the relationship up to the next step as they felt that they hadn't been together long enough to insure that it wouldn't make their relationship awkward if they rushed into it. They were too content and much too happy to risk ruining their relationship and their friendship by moving too quickly.

The only problem that the four couple had however was Ronald Weasley.

Since Blaise and Luna had announced their relationship, Ron had been spending much more time in the library which scared the small group, as Ron complained no end when Hermione made him study in the library for one afternoon and now he was spending a lot of time in there willingly. None of them knew what he was looking up in all his time there as he never brought any of the books he looked at back to the boys dorm, and neither Harry or Neville could find any notes written by the boy which might give them some idea as to what the boy was ready. After worrying about what he might be up to for at least a week, the group decided that they would, reluctantly, leave the redhead alone, and concentrate on more important issues.

Issues which announced themselves during owl post one March weekday morning.

* * *

March 8th dawned bright and early and appeared to be like any other day. Students piled into the Great Hall and chatted animatedly amongst themselves during breakfast, the odd student doted about finishing homework before classes. The owl post arrived as usual, but amongst the usual flurry of brown owls were two white owls from Gringotts. It wasn't unusual for teacher to receive owls from the wizard's bank, but these owls were not bound for the staff table and instead one flew to the Slytherin table while the other headed at the Gryffindor table landing in front of Draco and Harry respectively.

Both of them frowned in confusion as to what the Goblins would want with them, they opened up their letters and read through them quickly. Once they were done they stood up and made their way to the top of the Great Hall where the staff table was. When Harry reached the table a couple of seconds before Draco, he told the Headmistress quietly so he wouldn't be overheard by eavesdropping students. "Headmistress I need to visit Gringotts." When Draco reached them just as Harry started to talk, he confirmed that he also needed to visit the Goblin run bank.

The Headmistress frowned. "I won't ask what the content of your letters are, they are private. I do however ask if you have to attend Gringotts today specifically or can you go during the weekend when you won't miss any lessons?" she asked the boys, wondering why the Goblins wished to drag the two boys to Gringotts.

"It doesn't say they're expecting me today, does yours?" Draco told her looking at Harry to see his answer. When he shook his head he continued, "We could write to them and ask if it's okay for us to attend during the weekend. I'm sure they'd understand that our education comes first." He told the Headmistress, Harry nodding to show that he agreed with Draco's idea.

The Headmistress frowned and thought about the boy's idea. Sighing she told the boy's, "Well, you are of age so I cannot stop you if you want to go at the weekend. Write to the Goblins and ask if that is satisfactory with them and come tell me what they say. If they agree then I will give you permission to leave the grounds and go this weekend." She told them, before indicating that they should return to their seats and finish there breakfasts before first lesson began. The two boys thanked her and made there way back to there tables to grab there satchels before leaving for there first class; Transfiguration.

* * *

Walking into the Transfiguration classroom the seventh years saw that spread around the room were various animals in all different shapes and sizes, nothing too big however to cause any of the students any injury.

"Come in class, come in." Professor King called from the front of the class, "Take seat everyone and we'll get started on today's lesson." He told them. When everyone was in and seated he stood from his chair and walked to the front of his desk, his brightly coloured robes swirling around him as he moved. "Now, today we are going to delve into your inner souls and find the real, widest you." He told them, his voice going deep and mysterious for emphasis. The class laughed chuckled at the professor's extravagance, used to him by now.

"Now I am going to teach you how to reveal your Animagus form. Don't be under any allusions that you will be taught how to become Animagi. I will teach you however, what animal you would transform into if you were to become Animagi." He told the class, ensuring that everyone knew what they would be leaning today.

Clearing his throat he began, "Now can anyone tell me what an Animagus is?" he asked the entire class, looking around to see if anyone knew. He was happy to see nearly half the classes hands go up in the air. He looked around and eventually pointed to Theodore Nott.

"An Animagus is a witch or wizard who can turn into a particular animal or magical creature at will. It can take years to become an Animagi" he told the Professor. Nodding in happiness at the answer Professor King continued.

"Right, now we all know what an Animagus is, I will now teach you the spell that will reveal what animal or creature you would become. Now I want you to write down the incantation," he told them as he waved his wand towards the board where the spell wrote itself out neatly, " and I want you to listen carefully to what I say. The spell is _interiora mea ostende. _Now before I let you all loose with this spell I will perform it myself and show you the result. Now pay attention all of you." He told the class before pointing his wand in front of him, angled slightly towards the ground. "_Interiora mea ostende" _he said, slightly louder than normal so that the class could hear the pronunciation.

As soon as the last word had left his mouth a silvery-blue Lorikeet parrot flew from his wand and proceeded to glide around the room. "And there you have my Animagus form, if I were to become one." He told the class as the parrot continued to circle above the students. "As you can see, your form reflects outter personality. What you won't be able to tell however, is that your animagi also reflects your inner self." He told the class, who were watching the parrot fly above their heads. "Any questions class?" he asked bringfing everyones attention back to him instead of the parrot.

Harry raised his hand, "Is your animagus form the same as your patronus form or can one be different from the other?" he asked, curious if he would turn into a stag like his father or if he would transform into another animal.

"That's a very good question Mr Potter. The answer is yes, in the majority of cases a persons Animagi form will be the same as there corpereal Patronus. There are some cases however, where an Animagi form will be different from a Patronus form." He told Harry while summoning his own Patronus to illustrate the point when an Armadillo Patronus joied the parrot in the room.

Banishing his two animals Professor turned back towards the class, "Now if you stand up I will push the desks to the side so that you all have enough room to practise without disturbing anyone else." He told the class. When everyone was stood up, King waved his wand and the desks were pushed to the side and stacked ontop of each other.

Harry, Hermione and Draco stood near the back of the classroom and began to work on the spell, none of them getting it the first try. After the third attempt Hermione managed to produce a silvery-blue wide-eyed lemur, shocking the two boys, who both thought that Hermione would be more a cat person than a lemur person.

Next to perform the charm correctly was Draco who only had to try twice more after Hermione. When his animal was revealed they couldn't help but chuckled at the animal they saw. Out from Draco's wand flew a silvery-blue dove, slightly larger than average, but it was unmistakeably a dove. Draco smiled and shook his head slightly, mumbling "Figures" as he watched his animal fly around Hermione's lumer causing it to stretch up and try and catch it, making the couple smile and Harry role his eyes.

Harry then successfully performed the spell right after Draco and was surprised to see a dark silvery-blue large wolf leap from his wand and circle him. The three of them were shocked at what Harry's animal would be. They thought that he would follow in James Potters footsteps and transform into a stag. Harry however smiled as he realised that his form would be a mixture of both his late Godfathers, who were both like surrogate fathers to him.

When Professor King saw that everyone had produced an animal he called everyone to attention and moved all the desks back to there previous positions. Telling everyone to sit back down he stood up infront of his desk and began talking to the class again. "Now that you've all produced an animal I have some homework for you. Something that will really get you all thinking. I want you two write a small essay on why you think your animals are what they are. You're free to use any books you like and you are welcome to work in small groups to figure out why you're the animals you are. Dismissed." He told the class before turning back towards his desk.

The class made there way out and moved down to the Great Hall, talking amongst themselves about why there animals might be what they are. Harry, Hermione and Draco all agreeded that they would work together to get there essays done. When they sat down Hermione remembered the letter's that the two boys received that morning. "What are the letter's you got this morning about? There from Gringotts aren't they?" she asked them as they began to eat their lunch.

"I have to visit the Goblin incharge of the family vaults about what I plan to do to the family company. They want to go over a few things, making sure that everything is in order." Draco told her as Astoria sat down next to Harry and kissed him hello.

When he and Astoria parted Harry also answered, "Same thing really, just having a little trouble with the trustees who are running things at the moment. They're not entirely happy about no longer being in control. Need to sort them out as well while I'm gone." He told his friends and girlfiend, smiling comfortingly when he saw the two girls frown at the last bit. "It's nothing to worry about girls, I just have to show then that I'm not some silly little boy, trying to play with the big boys." He told them making them all laugh at the last part.

Conversation then turned to more cheerful topics and the rest of the day passed peacefully, all the couples meeting up that night in the Heads common room, to spend some time together and share what had been happening in each others lives. While they were there Harry, Hermione and Draco also taught the others how to perform the Animagi animal reavealing spell and they all had a good laugh as each others animals were revealed. They then proceeded to talk about the animals that were revealed and why they were those particular animals and before they knew it, Harry, Hermione and Draco had their essays for Professor King practically written in full already.

* * *

Well, that is chapter 12! Hope you liked it. What did you think of the animals? And what about the letters for Harry and Draco?

Really getting into now, after the last chapter (which took ages to wrote) this one flew straight out. Had to stay up late in order to write it out before it was gone. Gone forever.

Until next time my faithful readers.


	13. Let's Talk Business

Chapter 13 here for you're reading pleasure. This chapter is dedicated to my mummy because it's her birthday today :) so Happy Birthday Mum! Love you!

Enjoy.

**Peace and Unity, Forever.**

Chapter Thirteen: Let's Talk Business.

Friday night found Harry and Draco making there way up to Headmistress McGonagall's office, to discuss the plans for the two boys to leave tomorrow morning for there meetings at Gringotts.

Knocking on the door the two boys only had to wait a couple of seconds before they heard the Headmistress say 'Enter'. Walking in the two found the Headmistress signing papers and searching through her desk looking for something, so they quietly sat down in the two chairs in front of the desk and patiently waited till the Headmistress had finished.

When the Headmistress was done she looked up and saw that the two boys had already sat down. She offered them both some tea and a ginger newt, which they both refused politely, before she got on with the reason the boys were there.

"Now, as I understand both your appointments are at the same time?" she asked them both. When they nodded in confirmation she continued, "Right, because of this I've decided not to send a member of staff with you. I'm trusting the two of you to be model examples of students. You will both be acting as examples of Hogwarts and you need to respect that." She told them sternly.

The two boys nodded and replied, "Yes Headmistress" "We understand" separately.

"Good, I'm glad you understand. However, just because the two of you won't be chaperoned that doesn't give you carte blanche to go off where ever you want. I don't want you both apparating all over the country do you understand?" she asked the two boys who nodded obediently in understanding. "I also don't want you staying out of Hogwarts too late. I want you both back while it's still light out so that we can ensure that you're safe." The two boys again nodded in understanding. "Now is there anything that either of you want to ask?" she enquired and when they both shook there heads they were dismissed and sent on there way.

When the door closed behind the two boys Minerva sat back in her chair and sighed in sadness at just what it meant, that the two had been summoned to Gringotts. _They're no longer boys _she thought sadly, _they're men now. And fine young men at that. Misses Granger and Greengrass are very lucky_ she thought before returning to the piles of papers on her desk.

* * *

Making there way back up to the Heads common room, Harry and Draco got talking about why the goblins wanted to see them.

"So why are you being summoned then?" Harry asked Draco, curious as to what the goblins would want with Draco when his father was still alive and in charge of the family fortune.

"It's to do with my inheritance and what I want to do with it. I also need to separate my share of the family company from the main business so that I have complete control of it. I don't want my father to interfere with what I plan on doing." He told the black haired boy as they walked. "What about you? Why do the goblins want to talk to you?" he asked.

"Similar situation really. The trustees in charge of Figulus Elit don't really want to hand over a successful company they have control over to a seventeen year old boy." He told the blond with a slight smile.

"I don't get the problem." He said as he ran through his head what the problem might be. Finally it came to him. "They're trying to find legal ways to prevent you from taking over. So they'll remain in control" he said looking across at Harry sympathetically.

Harry nodded despondently, "Got it in one. There not doing anything to stop me yet, but the goblins think, and I agree, that it's better for me to stop it in its tracks now rather than having to prove myself afterwards. So tomorrow I'll be taking full control over the business. Merlin knows how I'm going to run it and do my school work, not to mention captaining the Quidditch team." He told his companion before sighing sadly, "And here I thought this year would be peaceful" he said as the two walked into the Heads common room making Draco chuckle at the face Harry was making.

It was Draco's chuckle that alerted Hermione and Astoria that the two boys had returned, so caught up in there conversation that they didn't hear the portrait open. Looking up both girls grinned brightly at spotting there boyfriends, hugging them when they sat down next to their respective girlfriends.

"Did McGonagall give you permission to leave?" Hermione asked the two boys from her position encased in Draco's strong arms, a hazy happy smile playing across her face. She felt Draco nod in confirmation while Harry answered.

"Yes we're allowed to go. We won't have a teacher with us so it should make the day pass quicker." He informed the two girls, stroking Astoria's hair as she leaned her head on his shoulder, her eyes closed in peaceful contentment.

"Lucky you" she mumbled before burrowing her face into Harry's neck, happy to be back in the arms of her green-eyed knight causing Harry to laugh slightly before gently rubbing his five o'clock shadow on the top of her head making her giggle quietly.

"Well, now that you're both back and I know you're safe, I'm going to go to bed. I'm exhausted." Hermione told the other three, covering up a yawn with her hand.

"We'll leave you to go to bed then. Night Hermione." Harry said standing up pulling up Astoria who echoed his statement, before they left the Heads common room and made there way down to the dungeons, where Harry left Astoria at the entrance of her common room with a kiss before he himself went back up to the Gryffindor common room for some shut eye.

* * *

The next day dawned bright and early. Draco and Harry wore up earlier than everyone else and got ready sedately, dressing in their finest black robes. When Draco went down to the common room he was pleasantly surprised to find Hermione sat in one of the chairs reading a book.

"What are you doing up this early?" he asked her as he made his way towards her, leaning down and giving her a kiss good morning. When they broke apart she looked up at him and smiled happily.

"I wanted to spend some time with you before you disappeared for the day" she told him before fluttering her eyelashes innocently at him, "Don't you want to spend time with little ol' me?" she asked him sweetly.

Draco couldn't help but chuckle and lean down to kiss her smiling lips again. "Of course I want to spend time with you" he told her before kissing her nose, causing her to scrunch it up and giggle, "I just didn't think you'd be up this early, especially with how tired you were last night." He told her before grabbing her hands and pulling her to her feet and into his arms for a hug.

Standing like that with Hermione's head tucked under Draco's chin, the two enjoyed each others company, as though they were absorbing each other due to the possible long separation they would encounter that day. When they finally parted, they linked hands and made there way down to the Great Hall.

When they entered the Great Hall they found that Harry was already there and surprisingly Astoria was sat right next to him. The two had their heads together and were quietly talking to each other, seemingly oblivious to everything happening around them. Hermione found them to be a very cute couple and told Draco as they made there way towards the couple in question. Draco nodded in agreement, his eyes glancing around the room, seeing who else was up early for breakfast. From what he could see there was just the Hufflepuff Quidditch team, who were playing Ravenclaw next week.

Sitting down opposite Harry and Astoria the four of them began talking amongst themselves about what the girls were going to do that day. They had decided that they would spend the day in the Heads common room getting to know each other better since it quite obvious that they would be part of each others lives for a long time to come because of the boys in there lives.

Soon it was time for the boys to leave. Deciding that they didn't want to part with their boys quite that soon, Hermione and Astoria decided that they'd walk down with the boys to the edge of the grounds. When they reached the gates, the girls hugged their boyfriends and bid them good luck. When the boys apparated away the two girls linked arms and made their way back up to the school and to the Heads common room, excited at the prospect of getting to know each other better.

* * *

The two boys arrived at the entrance of Diagon Alley with a small 'pop' and immediately made there way down the high street to Gringotts. Walking into the prestigious bank they made there way over to two of the goblins and told them that they had appointments with family goblins. They were them escorted into separate offices and a day of paperwork began.

* * *

Back in Hogwarts Hermione and Astoria were sat awkwardly on the sofa in the Heads common room, trying to come up with a topic of conversation. Eventually Hermione asked politely, "How are you and Harry doing? Is everything okay?" she asked remembering when Astoria dragged Harry out the common room one night.

"Everything's great thanks. Why?" she asked wondering why Hermione might think things were less than okay.

"I just remembered last month you burst into the room in a flurry and dragged Harry out" she told the younger girl noticing that her eyes immediately dropped to her fidgeting hands in her lap. "I was just curious" she told her gently hoping that she hasn't upset the girl.

"Yes sorry about that" she told the girl still looking down at her hands. She eventually took a deep breath and looked up at the older girl deciding to tell her the truth. So she explained what her sister had said to her and how she reacted to it. She then went on to how Harry had reacted and how he stopped her fears and worried dead in its tracks. By the time she'd finished she had tears in her eyes. "I know I shouldn't have let her get to me but I couldn't help it. I feel so stupid for believing her." She told a quiet Hermione who was now sat next to her and had an arm wrapped around her shoulders, comforting the upset girl.

"You shouldn't feel silly Astoria" she told the girl soothingly "Everyone has moments of confusion and worry. It's completely natural. I've been worried about the expectations between myself and Draco. I wasn't sure if he was expecting me to 'put out' as it were. I was so relieved when Draco brought it up, I had no idea how to ask him about it" she told the girl in her arms, who by now had stopped crying and was looking at Hermione in amazement, that she too had worried about the same thing.

"How are you and Draco doing? How long have you been together now?" she asked, curious as to how the Heads were doing practically living together. Hermione couldn't help but smile as she thought of Draco.

"We're doing great thanks. It's been five months now." She replied sighing dreamily at the end, "I still can't quite believe we've been together that long" she told her dreamily, as though she was reliving every moment in her head.

Astoria couldn't help but giggle at the expression on the older girls face. She could tell that she cared deeply for Draco, something she was very grateful. She knew that Draco had experienced very few happy things in his life and she would be eternally grateful to Hermione for making him smile much more nowadays.

"You and Harry have been together seven months now isn't it?" Hermione asked and when Astoria nodding giddily in confirmation. "You're still really lovey-dovey. I think it's so sweet. You both act like you're the only two people in the room whenever you're together. It's adorable" she told her causing Astoria to blush slightly and bite her lip, quietly saying 'thank you'.

The two continued to talk about everything and anything they could think of from their boyfriends to classes to life at home. They had laughs and tears, but by the end of the day the two were well on their way to becoming great friends.

* * *

Meanwhile, at Gringotts the two boys were not having such a good time.

Draco discovered that it was incredibly hard to separate his part of the family business from the main corporation. Especially since he didn't want his father's permission to do so, knowing that he'd try and put a stop to it straight away. Luckily for him the goblins had the perfect solution.

"Because you're of age Mr Malfoy, we could separate your vault from the families completely that way you would be completely independent from your family." Munsheto told Draco after he explained what he wanted to do.

"What do you mean separate my vault from the families completely? I thought it was already separate and had been since my 17th birthday?" he asked, confused as how his vault could be separated from the families if it already was.

"While your personal vault is separate from the families vault, it is not completely independent from it. It is connected to the family vault; it just has a main entrance now. This means that you no longer have to pass through your family vault to reach your own." Munsheto explained patiently to the young Malfoy. Having worked for the Malfoy family for many years, he knew that politeness was the best way to deal with them.

"Okay" Draco replied thinking quickly about what that meant, "So if I were to request that my vault be completely separated from the family vault, that would mean that I'm completely independent, giving me free reign over my side of the family business. Is that correct?" he asked the goblin politely, wanting to make sure that he fully understood.

Nodding in confirmation Munsheto spoke, "Correct Mr Malfoy. It would also mean that your father, the elder Mr Malfoy, would not be able in interfere with you share of the family company. He would also be unable to join the two half's together again, it would have to be your decision to do so, as you were the one to separate them." He explained.

"That sounds perfect." He told the Munsheto and with that decided the two got on with the piles of paperwork required to separate Draco's vault and share of the business.

* * *

Meanwhile in another room down the corridor Harry was sat with Ragnok the Potter family goblin signing the papers that would confirm he had received his inheritance in full. After that was done, they got down to the nitty-gritty business.

"Now I told you that we believe some of the trustee's would try and prevent you from taking full control of Figulus Elit. They believe that you will be unable to run the company successfully." The goblin told him looking at Harry through beady black eyes at Harry, who was still looking through the papers he was handed when he entered. When Ragnok finished talking Harry looked up.

"How many of the trustee's don't want me to take over? Or are some willing to have more backseat roles from now on?" he asked, curious if he would have any support when he graduated and took control.

"From what we can gather there are only two of the five trustees that don't believe you will be able to take full control. They are Mr Lawrence and Mr Sanders. The remaining three trustees, Mr's Aston, Parks and Bard all believe that you will be able to successfully take control and are more than happy to hand over their responsibilities and help you in whatever way they can." Harry was told making him feel much better about taking control of his company.

"Good, that's good. Feel much better than I did before about doing this. Now what needs to be done to take control of Figulus Elit?" he asked, unsure how things were actually going progress.

"It's all quite simple Mr Potter. Because the majority of the trustees agree willingly to you taking complete control, it merely needs you're signature on the new contract that shows you take sole control and proprietorship of Figulus Elit. You're three supporting trustees have signed already." Ragnok told him handing over the contract for Harry to look over.

Once Harry had finished ready through the contract, making sure that he understood everything he signed on the dotted line. Once that was done the contract glowed gold and disappeared with a _pop_.

Handing over a folder with all the details of the business as well as the accounts book, Harry's meeting ended and he left the office. Outside he found Draco also exiting another office just a ways down the corridor. The two then made their way out the bank and back up the main street to the Leaky Cauldron for a very late lunch, neither of them really having noticed the time when they were in their meetings.

After they placed there orders they found an empty table and sat down to wait. To pass the time Harry asked, "So, how did your meeting go? Get everything sorted?" he enquired of the blonde making sure that his folders were secure.

"Yes, everything's sorted. Separating the business wasn't the difficult bit it was ensuring father can't join them up again. That took a bit of work, but it's all done now. Thankfully." He told him sighing in relief that his business was secure. "How about yours? Get everything sorted out?" he asked his companion.

Harry nodded "Everything's sorted. I'm now in sole control of Figulus Elit. And because I have the majority of the trustees on my side there's nothing the minority can do about it. Now all I have to do is look through the accounts and details of the business before calling a meeting with the trustees." He told him pulling his sandwich and drink towards him. Taking a sip of his drink he continued, "Merlin knows how I'm going to find all the time to do this as well as all my class work. Something tells me I'm going to have to pull a lot more all nighter's now." He told him, sighing tiredly as though just the thought of it made him tired.

The two continued to talk business for the rest of lunch before going back outside to apparate back to Hogwarts.

* * *

Back at Hogwarts Hermione and Astoria were still in the Heads common room talking about their boys.

"He looked so ridiculous," Hermione told a laughing Astoria, "He was just standing there kind of hopping from one foot to the other. He looked so funny you should have seen him." She told her before they both started laughing together.

"Oh, I wish I could have seen that" Astoria said through her laughter shaking her head in amusement, "When we danced at Christmas ball he was great, he said you taught, when you were travelling last year?" she asked to confirm that she had indeed taught Harry how to dance.

"Yeah, I taught to pass the time. We used to get pretty miserable whenever one of had the locket on from a long time. So we took off, turned on the radio and danced. It started with Harry, hopping from foot to foot" she told her laughing slightly again as she pictured Harry's first attempt at dancing in her head. "Eventually it turned into me teaching him, and it used to cheer us up so it kind of became a nightly thing. Just to give us a break and to cheer us up." She told her smiling as she remembered how the mood in the tent would change drastically when they danced.

"Well you taught him well." Astoria told her smiling, "He progressed to much more complicated steps than hopping" she told her causing them both to start laughing again, drowning out the sound of the portrait opening.

"I think we should be worried," Harry told Draco when they spotted the girls laughing on the sofa. "Anything that makes them laugh that much can't be good for either of us" he told him as they made their way towards the girls, sitting down next to their respective girlfriends. When the girls finally calmed down they turned around and hugged their boyfriends tightly, kissing them in welcome.

"How'd it go?" they asked simultaneously, giggling when they heard the other asked the same thing at the same time, causing the two boys to smile in amusement at them.

"It went really well" Draco answered for both of them, "We are both now proud owners to our own businesses. And there's nothing anyone can about it now. Not father or Harry's trustees." He told them smiling in happiness, pulling a beaming Hermione into a hug before she settled her head on his chest.

The four of them continued to talk well into the night, way past curfew. And not wanting to risk getting caught out after dark and get detention, it was decided that Harry and Astoria would stay the night in the heads common room, Astoria bunking with Hermione and Harry with Draco after transfiguring desk chairs into camp beds.

Unfortunately for the four of them, a red headed hot-tempered boy had spent the entire day at the back of the library, putting the finishing touches on his plan to save his house mates from the menace that is the Slytherin house students.

* * *

Well that is chapter 13. Hope you enjoyed it.

Something I forgot to mention in the authors note last chapter was that because I have no idea what Astoria's birthday is I've put it somewhere mid-August which makes her two years younger than Harry, Hermione and Draco (if my maths is correct). Just thought I'd put that in here since I forgot to last time.

Until next time readers.


	14. You're Welcome, You're Not

**Peace and Unity, Forever. **

Chapter Fourteen: You're Welcome. You're Not.

It had been a week since Harry and Draco had claimed sole ownership of their respective businesses. While Harry had been reading through the business details and accounts, Draco had been working on his business plan and what he was going to do to change how things were run.

Both boys had a natural flair for business and required very little help from anyone else, not that it stopped anyone who's anyone from offering their help. Both boys thought it was nice that practically everyone was interested in their businesses. One person that Draco didn't want to take an interest in his business however, imposed itself with a letter a week after everything was signed.

_Draco, _

_I received the papers from Gringotts stating that you had not only separated your vault from the families but you have also separated your share of the company and set up yourself. _

_What I want to know is why you did not consult me when you split Malfoy Holding's in half? _

_I will not try and change your mind about this or force you into joining the two halves of the company together again, but I do want to know what you plan on doing with our family business? And I sincerely hope that you don't plan on using it to infiltrate our world with pointless Muggle contraptions. It would be a waste of money and you know it, and it will also ruin our already discredited name further. _

_Think about what you are doing now Draco before it's too late to fix it. _

_Your Father. _

_P.S - you're Mother requests that you write her. _

Draco knew exactly what his Father was doing. He was trying to make him feel guilty. He knew that he was separating a century old business and he was okay with it. He knew that he had it in him to not only improve the business but also to take in directions that his ancestors never would have thought of.

"There is no way I'm going to let you get to me old man" he mumbled to himself from where he sat at the desk in the Heads common room.

"What did you say?" Hermione asked from her position on the sofa, sitting up and looking over to where Draco was staring holes into the parchment in his hand. Draco jumped when he heard her voice, forgetting that she was laid down on the sofa reading texts books. Looking up and over he saw her smiling at his shocked jump when she spoke.

"A letter from Father." He told her before going back to staring at the letter in his hands, "The papers from Gringotts finally got to him" he told her placing the letter on the desk and resting his chin on his folded hands. He vaguely heard Hermione get up and move closer to him and he definitely felt Hermione wrap her arms gently around his shoulder's and stroke his chest in an attempt to sooth his worries away.

"What did he have to say?" she asked softly, almost timidly. Even after all the conversations the two had had over the course of their five month relationship, Draco's family was never a topic of conversation so all Hermione knew about them was what every one did.

Draco gave a bitter laugh; "He thinks I'm going to ruin the family business with 'pointless muggle contraptions'" he told her leaning further back into her embrace.

Hermione sighed sadly knowing that deep down all Draco wanted was his father's approval and he never seemed to get it. Running her finger's through his hair she asked, "What about your mother? What does she have to say?"

"She's not written anything in this letter. She does want me to write though. The last time I wrote to her was Christmas," he told her feeling guilty that he'd been out of contact with his mother for so long, "I got so caught up with everything here that I've not found the time." He told her, trying to justify why he hadn't written to his mother.

"Well, we don't have any homework and we're both caught up with our revision so why don't you write her a long letter tonight and send it in the morning?" Hermione suggested pulling some parchment and quill towards where Draco was sat. "Tell her all about you're business plans and what's happening here. She'll be so proud at what you're achieving" she told him kissing him on the top of his head and giving him and tight, albeit brief hug before making her way back to the sofa and her book.

Draco followed her movements back to the sofa, not quite believing how lucky he was to have such an amazing woman in his life. Smiling softly to himself he dipped the quill in the ink and began his letter to his mother.

_Dear Mother, _

_My apologies for not writing to you in so long. Life at Hogwarts has kept me thoroughly occupied. _

_Hogwarts is just the same as ever but there is much more pleasant interactions between the Slytherins and the other houses, especially Gryffindor. Everyone has leant a valuable lesson from the last couple of years and there really is a sense of peace and unity in Hogwarts now. The Headmistress seems proud that myself and the head girl, Hermione, have been able to help push forward the changes that have taken place. _

_On a more personal note Hermione and I are still going strong and there's no sign of things changing soon. She's still just as supportive of what I do as ever, and was even the one to suggest that I write to you tonight, since I'm on track with all class work and revision. _

_I'm sure that father has told you what I've done with the family vault and business. I hope you understand why I've done this. I want our family name to something to be proud of again, something that my future wife would be proud to take as her own. And at the moment, our name is far from that. Father thinks that I won't be able to make my business work, but I can assure you that I have given this a lot of thought and have been planning what I want to do for months, so this wasn't a spur of the moment decision. I'll write to father later telling him of my plans like he requested, but if he still doesn't see why I'm doing what I'm doing, please would you try and help him understand. _

_I'm afraid I must end this letter now before I begin to babble about the day-to-day going-ons of classes. I'll try and write again soon._

_Love your devoted son,_

_Draco _

When Draco finished writing his letter he read through it making sure he hadn't missed anything important out. Satisfied that he included everything he wanted to, he rolled up his letter and sealed it. After that was done, he sighed and pulled another sheet of parchment towards him and began to write a much harder letter to his father, hoping and praying that he would be able to successfully convey his plans for his share of the business.

_Father,_

_As you requested in your letter I am writing to you to inform you of my plans for my now separate share of Malfoy Holdings. _

_My plan is to integrate Muggle technology into the day-to-day live of witches and wizards to make life easier. I also plan to introduce technology into official establishments such as The Ministry and St. Mungo's. With the help of new Muggle technology it would allow things to be run smoother and quicker than they run presently. _

_In turn, I plan on introducing certain magical products that don't outwardly appear magical into the muggle world. This will mainly focus on cosmetic products that help make people's lives easier. _

_While you may not understand why I am doing this now father, I hope that one day you will not only understand but also accept it. I want to change the way our family name is perceived and I have a greater chance of success if I do this away from Malfoy Holdings. I want my future wife to be proud to bear the Malfoy name. _

_Your son, _

_Draco. _

Sighing, Draco rolled up the letter to his father and secured it next to the letter for his mother. He hoped that if his father didn't understand before he would once he read his letter. And if after that he hoped his mother would be able to talk some sense into his father.

Looking over at Hermione he saw that she had fallen asleep on the sofa, the book she was reading laid over her stomach. Draco couldn't help but smile at his girlfriend, thinking that she was so adorable. Making his way over to where she lay Draco just watched her for a couple of seconds before taking her book and putting it on the coffee table, taking care to mark her place so it wasn't lost. He then took a couple of seconds to think. _I can't take her up to her room, the stairs won't allow it. I could put her in my bed_ he thought to himself, _it's not as though we haven't fallen asleep together on the sofa before. We'd just be moving to a more comfortable location. _

And with that Draco put his arm underneath her knees and around her back and gently lifted her up into his arms. Ensuring that she was secure and that he wouldn't drop her, he slowly made his way up to his room. Waving his hand he made his bed turn down, using the very little wandless magic he could accomplish. Laying Hermione down on the bed, he waved his wand and changed her into some pyjamas so that she would be comfortable while she slept. Covering her up he made his way into the bathroom to change himself, putting on pyjama bottoms as well as a top so that Hermione wouldn't feel uncomfortable when she woke in the morning.

After brushing his teeth he made his way back into his room and found that Hermione hadn't moved a muscle, so he knew that she was still sleeping. Carefully getting under the covers Draco laid down, resting his head in hands and closed his eyes ready to join Hermione in the land of dreams. His eyes flew open however when Hermione rolled over in her sleep so that her head now rested on Draco's muscular chest, one arm thrown across his stomach.

Draco couldn't help but momentarily freeze unsure if he should gently role her back onto the other side of the bed or wrap his arms around her. When he felt her burrow her head slightly into his chest and tightening her arm around his stomach he relaxed and wrapped his arms around her torso, hearing her sigh quietly in her sleep. Smiling to himself he kissed the top of her head whispered 'goodnight' before closing his eyes and joining Hermione in sleep.

* * *

The next morning Hermione woke slowly, wondering why her pillow was hard and moving up and down. Trying not to panic she cracked her eyes open and looked around the room she was in. Spotting the dark brown wood of Draco's hawthorn wand she realised that Draco must have carried her up to his room when she fell asleep on the sofa last night. Gently, so she wouldn't wake the still sleeping Draco, Hermione raised her head from his chest and looked down at the peaceful, content face of her wonderful boyfriend.

She never realised just how much stress was visible on his face when he was awake. Watching him sleep she saw no lines and no frowns, just a slight happy smile while he slept and dreamt. Enjoying how peaceful and happy he looked at that moment, Hermione silently vowed that she would do all she could to ensure that he would always be happy and peaceful.

Hermione had lost track of time as she gazed upon her boyfriend and was startled out of her thoughts when she felt Draco run his hand up and down her spin. Realising that Draco was waking up she leant down and gently kissed him on the lips, smiling when she felt his arms tighten around her waist. Pulling back she watched his eyes flicker open, smiling up at her.

"Good morning beautiful," he said, weaving his fingers into Hermione hair and pulling her down for another kiss. Breaking apart when the need for oxygen became too apparent, Hermione laid her head back down on Draco's chest, enjoying the feel of his arms wrapped around her.

"Hmm. Good morning" she replied smiling happily and snuggling further down, if it were possible, into Draco's chest. "Thank you for bringing me up here last night" she told him, kissing his shirt covered chest.

"You're welcome. I didn't want to leave you on the sofa" he told her, explaining why she was in his bed this morning.

"Well, thank you. That was the best nights sleep I've ever had." She told him, turning her face into his chest, not wanting to look at his face, worried about his reaction. She smiled and looked up at his face when she felt him press a kiss into her hair.

"Me too. And it's all thanks to you being here" he told her leaning down and kissing her quickly on the nose causing her to scrunch it up subconsciously and giggle. The two of them remained in bed for the rest of the morning, missing breakfast but thankful that it was a weekend. When they eventually did decide to get up, they spent the day together lounging around their common room, only leaving for meals and to send Draco's letter. Although neither said it aloud, both knew that there would be many of these days in the future when they had graduated. And both were immensely happy with that thought.

* * *

Meanwhile in the Gryffindor tower, Harry, Neville and Ginny were sat on the sofa in front of the unlit fire, revising for their upcoming exams, helping each other when needed. They had just finished reviewing their charms books when a timid shy first year approached the trio, clutching a book at their chest.

"Excuse me Mr. Potter" the shy girl spoke, so quiet that Harry barely heard her. Turning around he saw her staring down at her shoes, glancing up to see if he had heard her and quickly lowering her eyes to her shoes again when she saw Harry looking at her.

Glancing to his side and seeing Ginny and Neville smiling slightly in amusement, Harry turned back towards the small first year and smiled gently at her, "What can I help you with?" he asked her gently.

Looking up the girl slowly turned her book around so that he could see the topic of the book. Seeing the first year D.A.D.A book he smiled in understanding. "Everyone says that you're the best person to ask for help if you're stuck with Defence Against the Dark Arts. Would you please help me? If you're not too busy?" she asked timidly as though he would turn her away.

Smiling in sympathy Harry closed his own book, marking where he was up to and asked the first year her name. When she told him he continued, "Well Chloe, do you want to sit here or are you sat at one of the tables?" Harry asked. When Chloe pointed towards one of the tables that had approximately half-a-dozen other first years sat Harry nodded and stood up from the sofa. "Well shall I join you over there?" he asked. Chloe nodded and quickly made her way back over to the table, leaving Harry to exchange amused smiles with Ginny and Neville, before making his way over to where Chloe now sat.

Harry then spent a good part of the next hour helping the table of first years with their Defence work, explaining and demonstrating what was written in their textbooks in a much simpler way so that they fully understood everything. When he finished explaining everything they wanted he stood up to a round of 'thank you's' he replied with a gentle 'you're welcome' and made his way back to the sofa where a grinning Ginny and Neville still sat revising. Picking up his book again and making himself comfortable he had read just five pages when and made two pages of notes when I third year student came up to him, also asking if he could help them. Nodding Harry closed his own text book again and stood and followed the third year to where he was sat, again surrounded by nearly half-a-dozen other third years.

It took some time more to go through everything the third years were stuck on and soon it was time for lunch. Realising that he had only got through one and a bit subjects for his own upcoming exams, Harry swore to himself that he would knuckle down in the library and revise more after lunch.

At lunch Astoria came over and joined her slightly stressing boyfriend and the two chatted and cuddled throughout their meal. Once he finished his food he told the other's that he'd be in the library revising if any of them needed him, making Hermione beam at the obvious devotion to his upcoming exams. When they all nodded he stood up from the table and made his way out the hall. He was nearing the library when he heard running footsteps behind him.

Turning around he saw Astoria running to catch up to him. Pausing he waited for her to reach him and grabbing her hand he asked amused, "Why, pray tell are you chasing me Miss Greengrass?" smiling down at the girl next to him, who returned his smile with her own brilliant smile before pulling him along in the direction of the library.

"The common room is really crowded and loud so I thought that I'd join you in the library. You don't mind do you?" she asked looking up at Harry as they entered the library.

Harry shook his head, "Of course I don't mind. That's the reason I'm, here too. Towers much to crowded." He told her as the made their way to one of the many tables in the library. Getting their textbooks and notes out their bags the two began to revise for their upcoming exams, Astoria occasionally asking Harry a question when she wasn't sure about something.

This was the way the two of them carried on for the best part of the next two hours. Eventually they were joined by Blaise and Luna who quietly sat down opposite the two after greeting each other and began to revise for their own exams. It wasn't long after the two joined them that a fourth year approached the table and quietly asked Harry if he could help them.

Even though Harry had moved out the Gryffindor common room to avoid being interrupted he was only too happy to help the fourth year Slytherin. Once he was done and back at his table, he managed to get finish his charms textbook and get a good way into his potions textbook, creating another eight pages of notes, before he was interrupted again and asked if he could help another student with their defence work.

This was how the rest of his day passed, revising for his own exams, helping fellow students and revising for his own exams followed by helping students again. This happened another three time before dinner. Laughing and chatting between the group meant that the meal passed relatively quickly. Once everyone had finished eating and split up to do their own thing, Harry took Astoria down into the dungeons to their own private area, wanting to spend some alone time with his gorgeous girlfriend.

The two of them then spent the next two hours alone with each other, laid out on the sofa and talking between themselves and what they were going to do in the summer holidays, which were quickly approaching. They both decided that somewhere between both their birthdays that they would spend a weekend exploring the sights and sounds of Dublin. Astoria was slightly worried that her parents wouldn't allow her to go, but she knew that they knew Harry was and would always be a perfect gentleman towards her and would never to anything harmful towards her.

With that last thought she snuggled down into Harry's neck with a smile on her face. Eventually conversation between the two of them stopped as they both became tired and fell asleep in each other's arms for the first time ever. Neither had had a more pleasant nights sleep.

* * *

Another chapter done and finished. Can't quite believe I've written 14 chapters. That the longest story I've ever written!

I hope that you all like this chapter.

Now my faithful readers, I'm giving you the opportunity to control part of my story. On my profile I have started a poll. Because I can't decide what to name Draco's company I am leaving the decision in you're hands. All the names are Latin but I have written what they mean in brackets next to each one.

I would greatly appreciate what you all think, so please let me know by voting. Thank you.

Until the next chapter. Adieu.


	15. Beginning of the End

Chapter fifteen for your reading pleasure.

**Peace and Unity, Forever.**

Chapter Fifteen: Beginning of the End. 

It was now May and the group of friends were all nervous about taking there N.E.W.T's and O.W.L's. Hermione had practically taken over the Head's common room with notes and diagrams for all her subjects, as well as Draco's and Harry's. She was slowly driving the two boys mad, but Draco managed to distract Hermione enough to give all three of them a break from excessive studying.

Harry was also helping anyone who was having trouble with D.A.D.A. He didn't mind that practically everyone was asking for his help, he just didn't understand why they weren't asking Professor Bonitas for help, he was more qualified than Harry to help. But he couldn't deny that he enjoyed helping everyone, it reminded him of when he was running Dumbledore's Army. When Astoria asked him why he continued to help everyone even when he had exams coming up he told her, "I don't know really. I guess I just like helping people. Hermione said I had a 'hero complex' that caused me to save everyone and I guess now that there's evil man, snake person to kill, I'm helping people in other ways. Like studying." He told her one day when they were sat under a tree by the lake, taking a quick break from revision.

"Well I think it's really sweet of you to help everyone. Even with you studying for your N.E.W.T's you're still so willing to help others. You're adorable, you know that?" she said leaning up to kiss him on the lips. For the next half hour the two were lost in each other, kissing with a few sentences spoken in between. Soon reality interrupted and the two went back inside to finish their revision for the day.

* * *

Draco meanwhile was trying to calm down a hysterical Hermione who was trying to find her Arithmancy text book. Draco shook his head amused as his girlfriend practically tore through the common room looking for a book that he could guarantee was on the table that she had just searched through. Standing up and walking towards her he grabbed her and spun her around so that she was facing him and kissed her straight on the lips distracting her from her manic search.

When they finally came up for air Hermione was a little hazy eyed and struggling to think to straight. _He sure knows how to distract a girl_ she thought as she smiled lazily at the man in front of her.

With there arms still around each other Draco spoke, "Now, your book is on the desk. You're ready for your exam. And you're starting to drive everyone crazy with all this revision." He told her with a smile at her scandalized expression. "We will all thank you from the bottom of our hearts when our results come in, but right now I need to comforted." He told her pouting slightly.

"What do mean 'comforted'? There's no reason you need comforting" she told him confused as to what her usually level headed boyfriend was on about.

"Well, I've been neglected by this beautiful, wonderful and amazingly brilliant woman. And I think she needs to comfort me to make it up to me." Draco told her, pulling her tighter into his arms. Hermione smiled up at him sympathetically.

"Well," she said as she slid her hands up his arms till they were resting on his biceps, "If you tell me who she is I can go make her make it up to you." She told him with a cheeky smile which soon turned into laughter as Draco tickled her mercilessly. As they fell backwards onto the sofa he eventually stopped tickling her when he realised that having her lain across his chest and kissing her was much better than tickling. With that in his mind he wove his hand through her hair and pulling her face down so there lips met. The two spent the next hour lying on the sofa together, talking in whispers and kissing, smiles permanently on their faces.

* * *

While all this was happening, Ron had set up base in an empty classroom in the dungeons. He had found a room that was well furnished and had planned on staying in there whenever he was down in the dungeons but he figured that the reason it was so well furnished was because someone was using it, so he reluctantly chose another room, further down in the dungeons, but still just in view of the entrance of the Slytherin common room.

He now had everything sorted and ready for his plan to take action. He was just sat in the empty classroom talking to his white-eyed witch. Over the last couple of months she had been pushing and pushing him to complete his planning so that they could take action. She had been so supportive of the plans and himself that Ron was extremely thankful.

"Everything is ready is it not Ron?" she asked as she stood before him. He had asked her repeatedly to sit down next to him but she remained standing in front of him, occasionally moving about the room and a glide like motion.

"Everything is perfect." He told her, staring into her bright white eyes. "Now all we have to do is pick a date" he said frowning when he realised that he had no idea when he was going to pull of his plan.

"Well if you were ready on time we could have gone on the 2nd, but since you weren't ready we'll have to go on the 5th. That gives us two days to finalise everything." She told them and with that they went over their plans again, making sure everything they would need they had.

* * *

The next day the N.E.W.T's and O.W.L's began which meant more and more students began stressing and more and more calming draughts were administered at the Hospital Wing.

The first morning of exams consisted of Transfiguration theory and practical for the seventh years, while the fifth years had their Charms practical and theory. The afternoon found them swapping with seventh years completing their Charms exams while the fifth years completed their Transfiguration exams.

After the exams had finished for the day and everyone had been fed and given a short break the group made their way up to the Heads common room for some down time and a small amount of revision.

"How did you all find it?" Hermione asked once everyone was sat down somewhere. Harry couldn't help but groan slightly at hearing Hermione ask that, causing Astoria to giggle from her position on his lap and Hermione to stick her tongue out at Harry before throwing the nearest cushion at him, causing Astoria to squeal slightly in surprise and Harry laugh.

"I'm sorry Hermione but during O.W.L's you went through every single question with us. There wasn't a single one that you missed and explained your answer word for word." He said, explaining to the others why he groaned at her question. "You can't fault me for dreading that question." He told her with a cheeky smile that Hermione couldn't help returning, despite her best efforts not to.

"I'm only curious as to how everyone did" she told him slightly indignantly yet still smiling a little at Harry, "Excuse me for taking an interest in the most important exams in our lives" she told him before folding her arms across her chest and turning her head away from him dramatically, making everyone in the room laugh at the antics between the two best friends.

"It went okay Hermione" Neville said playing the peace keeper even though he knew it wasn't really needed. "Nothing as bad as potions. That is going to be a disaster." He stated pulling a face as though it was a nightmare causing laughter to issue forth once again.

Once everyone had calmed down again Astoria spoke, "O.W.L's are going okay and nothing too hard has come up yet. Although from the way you lot talk about your N.E.W.T's I think I have little to complain about." She told the group as she relined into Harry's chest.

"They're not that bad" Blaise said pensively, "No exams are that bad. It's the just all the hype that's made of them. 'Most important.' 'Life defining.' 'Future altering.' I think if teacher's didn't make such a big fuss over them then people wouldn't think they were so bad." He told the group as he gazed into the fire, absentmindedly twisting one of Luna's curls around his finger.

Ever since the two of them had got together Blaise had become more and more …- like Luna. He'd frequently drift off in his own mind and his musical writings had become more and more adventurous, moving from soft elegant classical sounding concertos to more upbeat and jazzy pieces. Everyone thought that Blaise's music was good before – what little they heard – but now no one could deny that Blaise was well on his way to becoming a highly successful and much sought after musician.

After Blaise had finished talking everyone took a minute to think about what he had said. Finally Ginny voiced what everyone was thinking. "While that may be true, don't you think that people would slack off and not bother revising at all if such a big hype wasn't made about our exams?" she asked generally.

"Yes, you're probably right." Draco answered after giving it some thought. "But all the teachers tell us, especially seventh years, that were adult now and need to take responsibility. Surely that starts with revising. If teacher's didn't make such a hype about revising then it'd be down to us as individuals to revise and decide how much or how little to revise." He told her and the entire group.

"But the majority of individuals won't revise. That's one of the main reasons that teachers do make such hype about the importance of exams. Because without it then people just wouldn't revise for them." Harry reasoned with him, unconsciously stroking Astoria's hip as he talked.

"But then that would show people what they're really like then," Hermione reasoned, sitting up straighter in Draco's lap. "If there's no hype for exams and it's up to the individual whether or not they revise for them, it's shows how determined people really are." She told the group around her. When she noticed that they all now had thoughtful looks on their faces she continued, "If someone is determined to become someone and do something with their life then they'd revise no matter what their teachers said about exams. They'd be intelligent enough to know that they had to revise in order to achieve their goals. While fear is a good incentive to do something like revision for exams, a better incentive is knowing that at the end of the paper you're on the way to achieving your dreams and aspirations." She told them before leaning back against Draco's chest and relaxing, as though her little speech had taken a lot out of her.

"I see what you mean Hermione" Luna spoke up for the first time. "No one wants to fail so they would naturally put in enough revision so that they don't fail." She said to the thoughtful group, "Or at least so that they scrape by, just managing to achieve as little success as they like or care about" she added in a slightly sombre afterthought, her mind sadly drifting back to her disastrous relationship with Ron.

Noticing that his girlfriends thought had drifted to unpleasant things Blaise swiftly changed the subject. "On a lighter note, what are everyone's plans for this summer?" he asked looking around the room noticing that everyone smiled immediately at the much more cheerful subject the conversation was now on.

"My parents are taking me to the French Riviera for a week" Hermione answered first smiling at the thought of spending some time alone with her parents, away from the hustle and bustle of life in Oxfordshire.

"Me and Harry are spending a weekend in Dublin some time between our birthdays. I got a letter from mother last night and she said that I could go." Astoria told everyone beaming as she and Harry hugged each other tightly causing Hermione and Ginny to 'aww' silently at the picture the two made.

"Gran's taking me to Abel Tasman in New Zealand. She organised a camping and nature trip for me while she stays by the beach and the shops. Can't wait to see all those plants. It's going to be fantastic." Neville told them beaming in excitement at what his summer plans would involve.

Ginny smiled at her boyfriend's excitement before turning back to the others, "I going to the Holyhead Harpies summer training camp. They've told me that I've got a good chance of getting an early signing if it goes well over the summer." She told them practically bouncing up and down in her seat at the prospect of playing professionally for her favourite team. The other's all congratulated Ginny, happy that the girl had the opportunity to play with her idols.

"Me and Luna are off to Sweden to look for the Crumple-Horned Snorkack." Blaise told the group, gazing into the fire again, lost in his thoughts.

"We'll bring you back pictures if you like?" Luna told them as she gazed around the room, following small creatures that only she could see. Everyone else smiled amusedly with each other, used to the two of them gazing off randomly throughout the day.

"Well, while you are all enjoying your summers and sunning yourselves," Draco said lightly poking Hermione in the belly as he spoke, "I'll be shopping in New York, listening to my mother dearest gossip all day. Bet you all envy me, eh?" he joked causing everyone else to chuckle at his antics.

The group continued to chat for another hour or so before they all retired so that they'd be ready for their exams tomorrow. But when Astoria and Blaise reached the dungeon common room, they saw that the majority of the students still up and gathered around the notice board.

Making their way over to the large group they spotted Pansy and asked what was going on. "Notice from Slughorn." She told them as she squeezed out of the clustering students. "He wants us all here after dinner tomorrow." She informed them making her way over to where Daphne and the other seventh year girls sat to relay the message. Following over Astoria quickly grabbed Blaise's arm when she spotted her older sister amongst the group.

"I'm kind of tired; I think I'm going to turn in now. Night Blaise." She said before dashing upstairs quickly, not noticing that Daphne had followed her movements with a forlorn expression at seeing her sister run away because of her presence. Silently vowing to herself that their relationship couldn't carry on like it was, she promised herself that she would talk to Astoria after the meeting tomorrow. With that decided she turned back to her friends and joined the conversation again.

* * *

The next morning the students woke bright and early to fit in a small amount of revision before their exams that morning. Harry, Hermione, Draco and Neville were all sat at one end of the Gryffindor table looking over their Herbology notes in a last effort to absorb all the information they could.

With ten minutes until the end of breakfast the quartet put their notes away and tried to eat a little more breakfast to settle their stomachs before they headed out to the greenhouses for their practical exam.

For the seventh years practical exam they had to successfully harvest some of its seeds without getting caught by its vines. None of the students could understand why they were being asked to harvest something that was class C non-tradeable item, but they didn't question the examiner and simply got on with their task.

After a quick lunch break that seemed to pass by in the blink of an eye the seventh years piled into the great hall with the fifth years and took their theory exam for Herbology, the fifth years completing their potions theory exam having done their practical that morning.

Both year groups were grateful when the examiner told them that their time was up, happy that the exams were over. They were even more grateful when they got to have dinner straight after, all of them starving, not being able to eat much at lunch due to nerves.

Soon it was time for the Slytherins to meet in the common room and wait for Slughorn. Walking into the common room Astoria glanced around looking for one of her friends to sit with. Spotting Blaise first she immediately made her way over to him, knowing that Draco would sit with him when he arrived. Unfortunately for her she noticed that he was sat with all the other seventh years, which wasn't that much of a problem as she was friendly with practically all of them. The problem was that that it included her estranged older sister. Sighing she made her way over and sat down next to Blaise, smiling 'hello' at him before lowering her eyes to her hands which were folded in her lap, playing with the hem of her skirt.

Daphne noticed her sister's action and immediately felt bad for making her feel like she did. Vowing that she was going to talk to her after the meeting she asked in general, "When's the professor getting here? And where's Draco?" she asked, curious as to why the head boy wouldn't be here. Seeing everyone around her frown and shrug she stood up and made her way out the common room saying, "We'll I'll got find Draco and we'll get Slughorn. I want this over with quickly I've got things to do" she said as she walked across the room, weaving in-between scattered students.

Making her way up to the Heads common room Daphne encountered no students, no professors and no ghosts, making her frown in confusion. Shaking her head she realised that she had reached the Head's portrait without realising it. Knocking, she only had to wait a couple of minutes before Hermione opened up the portrait.

"Daphne" she stated surprised at who she found on the other side of the portrait. Stepping to the side she silently invited the girl in before closing the portrait behind them and making her way back to the sofa where Harry and Draco were sat.

Both boys looked up from their books to see who was calling and were as surprised as Hermione when they saw who it was. Standing up and making his way over to the girls Draco asked, "What can we do for you Daph?"

"Well, we're all waiting for you and Slughorn to turn up in the common room and get this little announcement meeting thing over with." She told him as though it was obvious.

"What meeting? I haven't been told about any meeting in the Slytherin common room." He told her confused. Daphne looked at him as though he was an idiot if he thought that she'd believe him. "I'm being honest here Daphne" he told her holding his hands up, "Slughorn hasn't said anything to me about a meeting or an announcement in the common room. If there was one I'm pretty sure he'd tell me" he told her putting his hands down and frowning in confusion as to why he might not have been told about a meeting.

"Who's down there?" Harry asked from the sofa, wondering if Astoria was down their, recalling that she told him that she had something to do in the common room before meeting him later.

"Every single Slytherin apart from me and Draco is currently in the common room, waiting for a fictional announcement to happen." She told him now wondering who exactly had pinned up the notice on the notice board in the common room.

"Who told you about the meeting?" Hermione asked standing up and moving towards where Daphne and Draco were stood.

"There was a notice on the notice board last night telling everyone to meet in the common room tonight. It said that Slughorn wanted to talk to everyone about …- something. It didn't say what." She told them causing everyone to get an uneasy feeling in the pit of their stomachs.

"Something about this doesn't feel right" Draco said after a couple of seconds. When he saw the other three nod in agreement he continued, "Let's go down and look at this notice" he suggested grabbing Hermione's hand and making his way out the common room, the others following. "Maybe there's something that'll tell us who wrote it." He said as they walked down to the dungeons.

"Anyone else a little unsettled that we haven't seen a single teacher, student or ghost yet?" Harry asked as they made their way down through the school. After he said that Daphne stopped suddenly causing the other's to pause as well. "What is it?" Harry asked her walking back a couple of steps to where she had stopped.

"I didn't see anyone coming up either. No a single thing and that was what, fifteen minutes ago? That's not normal." She said frowning, not liking the unsettled feeling in her stomach. "There is always something wandering the corridors. Plus, we've all stopped outside an abandoned classroom and neither Filtch nor Mrs. Norris have turned up yet to interrogate us." She said looking around her as though she hoped that they would suddenly appear out of nowhere.

The other's glanced around before looking at each other and making their way down to the dungeons, there steps much quicker now that they were before. When they reached the top of the stair leading to the dungeons they heard faint shouting causing all of them to pause slightly in shock.

They didn't pause for long however and soon all four of them were racing down the steps and in the direction of the shouting, all of them noticing that they were moving closer and closer to the entrance to the Slytherin common room. Turning the final corner what they saw shocked them all to a dead halt.

They could now clearly hear that the people shouting were shouting 'help' and 'the doors are stuck'. Glancing around the corridor they saw no obvious threat but it was Hermione's gasp and trembling finger that alerted them to why everyone was shouting in the first place.

Looking at where she was pointing the others eyes widened in horror at what they saw.

Issuing out from the bottom of the stones that were the entrance to the Slytherin common room, coiling and weaving out from underneath the door in every shade of black and grey, was undeniably and undisputedly … smoke.

* * *

*enter suspense noise*

Well, what do you think? I know I'm awful to leave it there, but there you go.

Could be more evil and ask for a certain number of reviews before I update again … but I can't be that evil (then again?) You'll only have to wait a couple of days. Or a couple of couple of days.

Until next time.

P.S don't forget to vote in the poll on my profile. Part of the story is in your hands.


	16. Smoke Screen

I think you've waited long enough. Enjoy :)

* * *

**Peace and Unity, Forever. **

_Previously: Issuing out from the bottom of the stones that were the entrance to the Slytherin common room, coiling and weaving out from underneath the door in every shade of black and grey, was undeniably and undisputedly … smoke. _

Chapter Sixteen: Smoke Screen. 

Seeing the smoke shocked the two boys out of their shock and surprise. Running full speed to the door, pulling out their wands as they went, they tried to part the doors physically all the while trying to think of spells they could use to get the doors open.

"What's happening in their?" Draco yelled to the people inside, grunting in the physical effort of trying to pry the heavy stone doors open. Both he and Harry were trying desperately trying to think of spells while the two girls were still shocked, immobile, just staring at the stone door in horror at what they were seeing.

"Smoke just started to fill the room up" they heard someone yell. They recognised the voice being that of Blaise's. "We've tried bubble head charms but their not working" he told them, pausing to cough smoke having got into his lungs. When he stopped he continued, his voice slightly quieter, "The doors are refusing to open. We can't get out" he told them, coughing again between statements.

Hearing that bubble head charms weren't working seemed to snap Hermione and Daphne out of their shocked trance. Immediately moving forward they tried to help the boys to push the doors apart. Draco however knew that the four of them weren't going to be able push the stones apart by themselves, so he moved away from the door and turned so that he was facing away the corridor they had just raced down he raised his wand and thinking of all the time he'd been alone with Hermione he enchanted _expecto patronum. _

Expecting his arctic fox to leap out he immediately thought of the message he wanted to say. He was surprised however when nothing happened. No fox, not even a light whipsy blue mist. Turning back to the others they saw their shocked faces that nothing happened. Harry moved forward slightly and tried to summon his own patronus. The others were shocked again when Harry's stag failed to appear. Looking at each other they quickly realised that it wasn't just magic inside the Slytherin common room that wasn't working, it outside as well.

The question now was, how far did it reach?

Taking command Harry turned to Daphne and Hermione he told her, "Run up to the entrance hall as quickly as you can. Keep performing _lumos_ and as soon as you're wand tip lights up send as many patronuses as you can up to the every teacher. Get them down here as quick as you can." He turned towards Draco and was about to start talking again when he realised that the two girls were still stood their. "What are you waiting for?" he asked them, "GO!" he shouted, jolting them out of their shock and making them run back up the corridor they had just run down.

Turning back to the door he shouted through, "Our magic isn't working either" he told them, faintly hearing a small dissolute cry from inside. "Until we get our magic back we'll have to try and force the doors open. Anyone who's cable on your side, try and push the doors apart. Some of the other's can try and get the first years to an area where there isn't as much smoke. The rest try and find the source of the smoke and try and stop it" he told them before he and Draco again took up their positions in front of the stones. "On the count of three, push" he shouted through the door, coughing slightly at the smoke that was seeping out from the bottom of the door, "Ready? One, two, three. PUSH!" he shouted.

Harry, Draco and whoever was on the other side of the door pushed with all their might, but the door didn't seem to budge. Taking a break they tried again but the stones still refused to move. As they tried for the fifth time both Harry and Draco were both praying to every deity in the sky for help, all the while wondering;

What was taking Hermione and Daphne so bloody long?

* * *

After Harry had yelled at them out of their shock, Hermione and Daphne ran as fast as their legs could carry them up the corridor all the while breathlessly enchanting lumos over and over again, keeping a close eye on the tips of their wands for the bright light of illumination that told them that they could again cast magic.

They had just reached the door of the potions classroom when both their wands lit up causing both girls to stop and quickly cast their patronuses, sending them to every teacher they could, informing them all that that there was 'smoke filling the Slytherin common room. Magic isn't working beyond the potions classroom'.

Leaning against the dungeon wall the two girls caught their breath while they thought of what they should do next while waiting for the teachers to arrive and help. When she had her breath back Daphne looked at Hermione, "What should we do now?" she asked, disliking leaving her sister behind in the smoke filled room.

Hermione took a second to think before stepping into the centre of the corridor and raising her wand in the direction they had just come from. "We can perform some _revelio. _It might tell us what exactly is stopping us from performing magic from this point onwards." She said to the other girl, "Or at least reveal clues as to what's stopping us." She added as she cast the spell, revealing to them that there were simple wards and many spells preventing them from casting magic.

Before they could begin to look at some of the spells stopping them they were distracted from a figure stepping out of the shadows, white gleam in their eye and slowly raising their wand, pointing it threateningly towards the two girls causing the two girls to freeze in shock.

And fear.

* * *

Meanwhile back at the Slytherin common room it quickly became apparent the stone doors wouldn't part, not matter how many people tried. Slamming the wall with his fists in frustration Draco began to pace up and down in front of the stone doors, while Harry leaned exhausted against the doors, quickly trying to think of something else that they could try to open the big heavy doors.

"We have to do something?" Draco said as he continued to pace up and down in agitation. When he saw that Harry was shaking his head slightly as he leaned against the wall he violently turned him around so that he was facing him. "Think Potter! You're the golden boy, do something!" he shouted at the Gryffindor.

Harry forcefully pushed Draco off him. "What do expect me to do Malfoy? Barge the doors down with my shoulder?" he asked rhetorically, "We've got no magic until the girls get back so calm the hell down and think of a way for them breath easier in a room for of smoke" he shouted.

Draco looked down at the ground, slightly ashamed that he'd yelled at Harry but more concerned about the friends and first years trapped inside. Both boys were frantically trying to come up with ideas on how to get inside the common room all the while wishing the girls would hurry up.

Little did they know that the girls had another problem to deal with.

* * *

Staring into the shadows Hermione and Daphne tried to recognise the person pointing their wand at them, neither of them recognising them. They both gave surprised gasps when they realised that it was Ron, Daphne's wand still trained on him whereas Hermione's wand faltered slightly at seeing her once best friend.

"What have you done Weasley?" Daphne asked the red head glancing quickly behind him to check that there wasn't anyone else with him. When she was certain he was alone she continued, "Why can't they get out the common room?" she asked and when he didn't reply she yelled. "WHY ARE THEY TRAPPED?"

Hearing her yell Ron smiled "Because they're going harm everyone. I'm just stopping them before they can do any harm. It's for the best that they're not here." He told them calmly as though he were discussing the weather, not the lives of nearly seventy people.

"My little sister is in there!" Daphne practically yelled at him, "Innocent first years are choking in their. They've nothing to you!" she said becoming slightly hysterical at the thought of the innocent lives trapped in the common room.

"Everyone knows you and your sister are estranged." Ron said, "You don't care about her like a sister should care about their sibling." He added with a chuckle as Daphne's face blanched. She was about to reply when she saw Hermione raise her hand, stopping her from replying.

Not wanting to believe that her friend had committed such an atrocious crime, Hermione began talking. "Ron," she said gently pulling the boys attention to her. She subtly indicated for Daphne to begin moving back and out the way as she spoke pleased when she did. "You don't want to do this Ron. I know you don't. Lower the spells and we'll just forget that you ever did this," she told him and when she saw Daphne's shocked face she raised her other hand slightly to show she should play along. When she saw Daphne's face morph onto a look of understanding she continued. "We'll find a way to stop them. Another way. One that means you won't be given the Kiss for what you've done." She said to him as calmly as she could, all the while wondering what was taking the teachers so long to arrive.

Daphne then jumped in and continued what Hermione was doing, "We'll gather everyone and leave. Go to another country far, far away from here. Where we can't do any damage or harm to anyone" she told him, lowering her wand to the ground to show him that she surrendered.

When the girls saw that he was accepting what they were saying the continued on, "See," Hermione said indicating Daphne's wand that was now lying on the ground, "They know they're evil and they want to be helped. That's what you can do Ron. You can help them. Send them away. With no one else with them, they'll turn on each other. They end their own evil. Just lower the spells and all that can happen." She said, praying inside that he believe what they were saying.

When she saw him raise his wand again she began to recoil when she realised that he was mumbling to himself and waving his wand in small intricate patterns in front of him. She quickly realised that he was indeed lowering the spells that prevented them from doing magic. When he finally stopped they could all feel the rush of the magic surging through the air informing them that magic could again be performed.

Taking a second to savour the feel of the magically charged air, that they had all taken for granted, Hermione looked back to Ron who was looking straight at her. She smiled encouragingly at him, causing him to smile in return thinking that she would now help him send all the Slytherins away. His smile quickly vanished however when he saw her raise her wand and point it in his direction.

Before Ron could so much as blink Hermione had non-verbally cast _Incarcerous_ causing ropes to burst forth from her wand and wrap them around Ron's body, arms and legs. Looking at her with frantic eyes Ron began to issue questions. "Hermione? What are you doing? We're sending them all away. Just like you said." He told her but when she saw her shake her head he bagan to loose it. "But you!" she told her, "Sending them away. That's what you promised me." he raised his voice slightly at her. When the two girls began to make their way back down to the common room Ron began to yell after them. "You promised! You PROMISED!" he repeated a couple of times before Daphne spun around and stunned him. Quickley counjuring a note telling whoever found him not to untie him under any cercamstances they continued to make their way back to the boys. And hopefully an open doored common room.

* * *

Back at the entrance to the common room the two boys paused when they felt a sudden rush of magic shoot past them. "What was that?" they heard someone ask from the other side of the door.

Draco and Harry looked at each other before retrieving their wands from their pockets and hesitantly casting the lumos. They were happily shocked to find both their wand tips light up. Looking up and smiling at each other and turning back to the door.

"Magic is working again try the door." Draco yelled at the people inside, expecting the doors to slide open and he was sadly disappointed then they didn't move a millimetre. "I don't get it. Why isn't it opening?" he said looking frantically at Harry who had a thoughtful look on his face.

"Cast the bubble head charm. All of you" Harry shouted through the door, "Anyone who can't cast it someone who can do it for them. Do it now! Forget the door for a minute and get everyone in there breathing properly again." He told the people on the other side of the door.

"Everyone has the bubble head charm on now" they heard a female voice they recognised as Astoria shout through after a couple of minutes. "What should we do now? There's still loads of smoke in the room" she told the two boys on the outside.

"Is anyone hurt in there?" Harry asked, hoping that besides not being able to breath easily, no one was physically hurt.

"Apart from short of breath no one's hurt. At least not from what we can tell. How are we going to get out though? The room's still filled with smoke and the charms won't stay up for long." Astoria told them, worry evident in her voice.

"We'll come up with something Astoria" Harry told her putting his hands on the wall, subconsciously reaching for her. "Don't worry. Try and keep everyone calm while we come up with a way to open the doors" he said before he turned back to Draco who had a pensive expression on his face.

When Draco saw Harry curious look he explained, "Why don't we try blasting the door open forcefully?" he said looking at Harry and then back at the door. Mistaking the looks Draco was giving Harry exclaimed;

"I told you already I'm not charging the door with my shoulder!" he told the blonde boy thinking that he'd gone mad.

Draco shacked his head, "Not bodily physically you nitwit. Magically. We could gouge out a hole in the wall." He said but before he could continue Harry picked up from, having obviously caught up to where the other boy was.

"Once there's a hole we can fire an _expulso_ at the wall and it'll explode letting everyone out. That brilliant Draco." He said before turning back towards the door. "Astoria we're going to gouge the door then explode if from this side. I want you and sixth and seventh years to cast a specific protection charm okay. It'll stop the debris from hitting and hurting anyone. Do you understand?" he asked through the door hoping that she did, because they had no other ideas and they knew the bubble head charms wouldn't last forever.

"We understand Harry" they heard Astoria say just as Daphne and Hermione rounded the corner. Upon hearing her sister's voice Daphne rushed forwards towards the stone doors.

"Astoria!" she practically shouted through the door, "Astoria are you okay? Are you alright?" she asked frantically. Daphne knew that if something had happened to her little sister and they still weren't talking to each other she could never forgive herself.

"Daphne? I'm okay Daphne don't worry. I'm fine. I just want to get out of here. We all do." She told her sister before again speaking to Harry. "All the younger students have been moved to the sides of the room. What protection spell do you want us to cast?" she asked Harry while signalling to the older students behind her to gather around so they could hear the incantation.

"The spell is _protego obruta. _It'll protect you from the debris. Cast over all the younger years first then get out of the line of the door and cast on yourselves. Do you all understand?" he told them receiving a large cry of 'yes' back. When they yelled at him that they were all out of the way of the door Harry turned back to the other three. "Right we need to be about two metres away" he said and when the other were the appropriate distance away Harry turned and marked am X on the wall behind him.

With that he turned and joined the other three. "Aim the gouging spell at that mark. Put as much energy as you can into it okay?" when he got three nods he continued, "on the count of three. One, two, three! _Defodio!"_ The four of them called out and soon they saw had carved a slight hole in the stone doors giving them something to aim at the next time.

"Great now we just cast the redactor curse and that should break through the doors. We're about to blow the doors make sure that no one and nothing is in line with the door. Stay to the sides of the room and keep those protection charms up with all you've got." He yelled the last part at the people inside the common room. When they shouted back that it was all clear Harry began counting down again.

On three the four of them all shouted out _reducto_, throwing as much of their power into the spell they could muster. When the four spells made contact with the wall they had to shield their eyes from the bombardment of smoke and dust that surged forward.

When the smoke and dust finally cleared Harry and Draco surged forward to the hold they had just created and started to push pieces of rubble to side, all the while looking around the common room making sure that everyone inside was okay.

When the path out was clear they beckoned the younger students out of the room where Hermione and Daphne took them up to the Entrance Hall. Once all the younger students were clear the older began to follow suit. When she reached the now blown open doors Astoria couldn't help but throw her arms around Harry and hug him for dear life, crying softly into his chest and smiling happily when she felt his arms encase her tightly, pulling her up from the ground.

When the two pulled back Harry gently encased her faced in his hands and leaned down to kiss her on relief and happiness that she was okay. Draco stood opposite them and cleared his throat to get their attention. When they didn't break apart he tried again. When they still didn't come apart he practically shouted, "Oi! Save it for later will you. We have to make sure everyone's okay and that includes Astoria" he told them, snapping Harry out of his happy daze as he realised that he was kissing someone who had been deprived of clear air for a long period of time.

Looking down at her he saw that she had tears flowing from her eyes. Gently he wiped them away and pulled her into his chest, letting her cry in relief. With arms still wrapped around each other they began following Draco up to the Entrance Hall where the other students and now the professors were waiting for them. All of them thankful that they were out and no one was harmed. Draco immediately went over to Hermione and wrapped his arms around her in silent support. Soon they were joined by Harry, Astoria, Daphne and Blaise making sure that they were all alright.

Turning around they saw Professor Bonitas levitating an immobile Ron up the stairs.

They had all the students out, they had the perpetrator. Now the only question unanswered, was why?

* * *

Well, there's chapter 16. What did you all think? Good enough or would you have preferred something else, a bit more danger?

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and it kept you on the edge of your seats. Until next time readers. Adieu.


	17. Now the Air is Clear

_**Attention:**__** Very sensitive issues and topics are mentioned in this chapter. My intention is to shine a light on these real life issues, not to offend anyone. Please take care when reading. Thank You. **_

**Peace and Unity, Forever. **

Chapter Seventeen: Now the Airs Clear. 

The group watched as Professor Bonitas floated Ron up the stairs from the dungeon, all of them keeping their eye's on him, subconsciously preparing themselves if the spell keeping him immobile ended allowing him to move.

Seeing his frantically crazed eyes move, shifting all around the hall, Astoria turned her head and burrowed her face into Harry's chest, shaking slightly in fear at what the red head had tried to do to her, to all of them. Harry wrapped his arms around her body comforting her and kissing her head in gentle reassurance, not wanting her to become anymore startled and scared than she already was.

When the group saw red sparks shoot out into the air above them the group, and the rest of the Slytherins, turned to see Headmistress McGonagall stood half-way up the stairs so that she towered over the students. "Can I please have everyone's attention." When she was sure that every student's eyes were focused on her she continued, "I want all the Slytherins to line up so that Madam Pomfrey can run a check on you all. Once that is complete I want you all to go outside and get some fresh air. You are to stay outside for a couple of hours or until it gets dark am I understood?" she asked watching as everyone nodded before they complied with her wishes, Harry, Hermione, Draco and Daphne standing to the side waiting for Astoria and Blaise.

As soon as Madam Pomfrey nodded to Astoria she dashed away and ran strait into Harry's arms which encircled her immediately. Kissing the top of her head and ensuring that one arm remained around her; Harry directed Astoria and everyone else out the main door and into the court yard where they all sat around the fountain in the centre, letting the gentle fall of the water relax them all.

The group were sat outside for nearly five minutes when Daphne walked out the doors and made her way down to the others. Spotting Astoria sat on Harry's knew with her arms wrapped tightly around his waist, Daphne kneeled down in front of the two and gentle placed her hand on her younger sister's knee, making her jump slightly, her eyes bursting open at the sudden contact.

"It's okay Tori" Daphne said gently, lifting her hand off Astoria's knee as Harry began rubbing her shoulders soothingly, trying to calm her back down again. "I was just wondering if I could talk to you for a minute. Alone?" she asked looking up at Harry at the end. When she saw Harry nod in acceptance she looked back at her younger sister who hadn't loosened her grip on her boyfriend. "Please Tori? I just want to talk to you?" she asked her gently, unknowingly begging with her eyes.

Seeing the look in her older sister's eyes Astoria slowly nodded and hesitantly loosened her arms from around Harry's waist. Feeling him press a gentle kiss on top of her head she kissed him on the cheek in return before standing up and making her way to a corner of the courtyard with her older sister, silently wondering what she wanted to talk to her about.

Sitting down the two lapsed into awkward silence, both realising just how distant they had become in the past months. Finally Daphne took a deep breath and turned so that she was looking at her sister. "I'm really sorry for what I said to you. I didn't mean what I said about Harry, I know he'd never treat you like that" she told her younger sister, looking down at her fiddling hands by the time she finished talking, not wanting to see the look in her sister's eyes.

"If knew he'd never treat me like that then why did you say it in the first place? I nearly ruined our relationship because what you said got to me so much, did you know that?" she told her, wanting her to know what she had nearly caused.

Daphne closed her eyes in embarrassment and shame at what she had nearly caused. "I don't know what made me say it. Not that's not true I know exactly what made me say it." She said shaking her head and trying to hold back her tears as memories flooded her. Looking up she saw the confused look on her sister's face that quickly turned to concern when she saw the tear in Daphne's eyes. "I didn't want what happened to me to happen to you, cause it's awful Tori and I would have done anything and everything to stop that happening." She told her before dropping her head in her hands.

"Daphne what happened to you? Was it Adrian? Did he do something?" Astoria asked, wondering what her sister had been through. She was relieved when Daphne shook her head.

"Adrian hasn't done anything. Remember in fourth year I went out with Marcus Flint for a little while before he graduated?" she asked and when she saw Astoria nod she took a deep breath and continued, "We'd been together for about two weeks. I noticed that he started to hang around with the older girls more and more and started brushing me off. Whenever he was around them he kept glancing towards me and it started to get to me. I guess I started to get jealous and eventually I realised that I had reclaim his attention again. So I decided to sleep with him, I felt that I was ready for it and that I wouldn't regret it afterwards, that I'd be happy that I'd shared something so special with him." She told her younger sister, tears now flowing down her cheeks.

"Oh Daph." Astoria sighed sadly wrapping her arms around her older sister's shoulders offering her support she knew Daphne needed to tell her story.

"A couple of days after it happened I caught him in his dorm room with one of the girls he was hanging around with. I didn't wait around for an explanation but the next morning he was waiting for me on the common room. He told me that we weren't 'working out' and that I was too immature for him. He left before I could say anything to him. That was the reason I was so miserable over the holiday. I really thought I was in love with him and he just tossed me aside after he got what he wanted. I felt to cheap and used Tori. And I'd hate for that to happen to you. It's the worst feeling in the world. So I thought that if I planted that seed in your head that you'd at least talk to Harry about it. I didn't want to cause any problems between you I swear. I'm so sorry Tori" she told her, breaking into sobs by the time she finished talking burrowing her head into her hands, trying to stop the tears from pouring from her eyes.

Astoria wrapped her arms tightly around her older sister, gently brushing her hair in the hope that it would calm her down slightly. Eventually Daphne's tears stopped and she raised her head from her hands and looked at her sister, he eyes begging her to forgive her.

Whipping her sister's tears from her cheeks Astoria gently held her sisters face and looking into her eyes she spoke softly, "Of course I forgive Daph. I just so sorry that that happened to you. Why didn't you tell me that happened to you, I would have understood why you said what you did then?" she asked her confused as to why she had kept it from her.

"I've never told anyone Tori. I didn't want anyone to know, I was too embarrassed. You have to promise not to tell anyone okay. Promise me, please?" she begged her, holding her hands between her own.

"Of course I won't tell anyone. But you should tell Adrian what's happened. And mother. They'll be able to help you, because you're clearly not over it Daph. You need to tell people. Then you can really start to move on." She told her sister gently.

Nodding she waved her wand and cleared the tear stains from her cheeks. Grabbing her hand Daphne stood and pulled Astoria up with her. Asking if she was forgiven all the answer she got was Astoria pulling her into a tight hug which she happily returned. Linking their hands the two sisters made their way back over to the others, who were all talking and smiling softly with each other.

Looking up when they arrived Harry smiled when noticed the two sisters linked hands and happy expressions on their faces. Astoria returned the smile brightly before sitting back on his knees and wrapping one arm around his shoulders while they other held Daphne's hand when she sat down next to the two.

The group continued to talk amongst themselves, laughing at each other's jokes and livening up the atmosphere till the light started to fade. When it was too dark to stay outside they made their way back into the castle, splitting up as half went down to the dungeons and the other continued up into the higher levels of the castle all of them hoping to get a good, peaceful nights sleep free of nightmares.

Meanwhile up in the hospital Madam Pomfrey finished her scans on the still immobile Ron, revealing some slightly startling results.

* * *

The next morning Ginny was called up to the Headmistresses office, where to her surprise, she found her parents there sat in front of the Headmistress desk. Indicating the chair next to her father's Ginny sat down and looked confessed between her parents and her Headmistress.

"Last night there was an incident in the Slytherin Common, involving your son. He trapped the entire house, barring two, inside their common room. He then somehow caused the room to fill with smoke. No one was badly hurt, but a couple of students, especially first years, are still finding it rather difficult to breathe properly" she told them, taking in two shocked faces and Molly outraged one. Before she could continue Molly burst forth in denial, continuously claiming that her son would never so something so hurtful and dangerous. That he was a good boy.

"Mum, it's true" Ginny told her mother before she could continue her tirade. "Ron's been like this all year. He's been horrible to Harry and Hermione because of who they're dating and he's nearly ruined Luna's spirit with all his talk about how 'Slytherins are dangerous and that they're plotting something and how he's going to be the hero'. He keeps disappearing for hours on end and whenever someone sees him he's always muttering to himself and scaring people away. He could easily have done what the headmistress said after how he's been this year" she told her parents shocking her father even more and causing her mother to collapse back into her chair in shock at what her youngest had just said.

"Has he been caught?" Arthur asked his long time friend. He didn't want to believe what his daughter had just said but he somehow, deep down knew that she was right.

"He was caught by Misses Granger and Greengrass in the dungeons. He attempted to stop them from getting help for Mr Potter and Malfoy who were trying to break into the common room to free the trapped students" the headmistress told her friend, causing the younger man to frown at his son's actions. Before Molly could start to defend her son Minerva continued. "He was kept in the Hospital Wing overnight. Madam Pomfrey ran numerous tests to find out what would cause a seemingly stable person to change drastically over the course of the year" she told the three people sitting in her office.

"Did she find something Headmistress?" Ginny asked timidly, as though she was afraid of knowing what was wrong with her brother, yet at the same time thankful that there might be a specific reason for her brother's rash change in behaviour and personality.

"She did indeed find something Miss Weasley. Something that I'm afraid to say is not entirely unexpected given what young Mr Weasley has lived through." She told the young girl and her parents. She then proceeded to explain what was found by the school's matron, shocking the occupants of the room into silence.

* * *

"What!" came the cry from under the oak tree by the lake as Ginny told her friends what was said in the Headmistresses office. She herself had a similar reaction when she was told what was wrong with her brother.

"It's true. Ron had developed a Delusion Disorder" she repeated even though she knew that they all heard her the first time, they were just finding it difficult to swallow. "According to Madam Pomfrey her scans and talks with Ron have revealed that he's been suffering with visual hallucinations of a witch with bright white eyes and she's fed his persecutory delusions. They've taken over his life apparently making him over sensitive and emotionally over invested, like believing that he has to protect Hermione from Draco for example" she said nodding to the couple who were leaning back against the tree in each others arms.

Before anyone could interrupt she carried on telling them what she was told in the office. "She also said that it would make him accept things unquestionably, like what ever it is that the 'white eyed witch' told him or Luna ending the relationship, which to his mind would have been seen as out of the blue" she said to the blonde girl.

"Is there are a cure for it?" Harry asked from his spot on the ground, a still fragile Astoria sat between his legs and leaning back against his chest. She was still having trouble getting over what had happened and the two had been sleeping on the sofa in their abandoned classroom.

Ginny shock her head sadly looking at the ground quickly before looking back up at her brother's best friend. "No. Madam Pomfrey says that there's no cure for things like this. She said that there is therapy that he can try that and Muggles have drugs that lessen the affects but there's no straight cure. Just techniques he can learn and practice to help live a normal life. It's going to be really hard though. His delusions are logically created apparently so it'll be rather hard to learn to they aren't real" she told them before sitting down next to Neville who immediately wrapped his arms around and pulled her into a comforting hug.

"How did it happen? I mean I know that I don't a thing about him, I've only ever seen him in classes and in the corridors but how does a normal guy with a short temper suddenly start to have delusions and hallucinations? What triggered it?" Blaise asked Ginny, causing the entire group to ponder what had caused something to change in the mind of the red-haired boy.

"Pomfrey and McGonagall think that it's the war." Ginny told them causing all of them to sit up in shock. "Apparently a delusional disorder stems from childhood experiences. Traumatic things that are rare and unheard of. Nothing more unheard of than someone fighting for their life since the age of eleven. McGonagall said that she was expecting some people to develop psychological problems and issues from what they've suffered and seen. Ron has always been on the front line with you two," she told them nodding to Harry and Hermione as she talked. "I don't know why it's affected Ron and not you two. Maybe you'll develop issues latter on there's no way of knowing. We'll just have to wait and see" she told her group, resting her head on Neville's shoulder as though explaining all that was physically exhausting.

"So what happens now?" Luna asked quietly as she gazed unseeingly into the lake.

"He's going to St. Mungo's where he'll start something called cognitive therapy using empathy. When they find out the root cause of it all and learn the full extent of his symptoms they're going to start him on something called Quietiapine. Don't really know what it is but I'm assuming that it'll help him deal with his symptoms. They said that it'll be phased out gradually when he improves. All that we can do is support him." She told them sighing sadly at the struggle her brother was undoubtedly going to go through.

They all knew and understood that it was going to a rough couple of years for the youngest male Weasley, but all any of them could do was to show their support and help him heal in any way they could.

* * *

Well that was chapter seventeen. Again I apologise for the delay, I guess wrote too much to quickly, I should have spaced it out more. I also wanted to make sure I had the right information; I didn't want to offend or upset anyone with incorrect information.

Just to reiterate, I don't intend to offend or upset anyone who has suffered or knows someone who's suffered from anything I've written about in this chapter. And if any of the information concerning the delusional disorder is incorrect I apologise, I have researched it and that's what I found, I am not in anyway shape or form disrespecting anyone.


	18. What the Future Holds

Sorry for the delay between chapters, life has been rather hectic in the last month. I've been training for my new job but now the store is open things have calmed down enough for me to get a new chapter out. Hope you enjoy and let me know what you think.

* * *

**Peace and Unity, Forever. **

Chapter Eighteen: What the Future Holds.

It was now the beginning of June. Exams were over (much to the relief of all the students) and preparations were well under way for the Graduation Ceremony. While the rest of the years were getting a head start on their classes for the next year, the seventh years were able to relax and wander the castle as they pleased, as long as they didn't disturb any of the classes still taking place.

Hermione, Draco and Harry were sat under by the lake laughing and talking with each other as they reminisced about the last eight years. They were soon joined by Daphne who was trying to get to know Hermione and especially Harry better, knowing that if Astoria had her way she would be seeing them a lot in the future. At lunch they were joined by Astoria who wrapped her arms around Harry's neck from behind, startling him and making everyone around them laugh as he jumped slightly in shock.

Making there way back up to the castle the four friends enjoyed a leisurely dinner before meeting up with Blaise, Luna and Neville and making their way to the Heads Common Room. They were all laughing and talking when there was a knock on the portrait. Making her way over Astoria opened the portrait to reveal Ginny stood outside, looking rather forlorn. Frowning slightly at the older girl's expression Astoria stepped aside to let Ginny in before closing the portrait again and making her way back over to Harry on the sofa.

Noticing the rather upset look on his girlfriends face Neville asked her quietly what was wrong with her. Ginny looked at him and shook her head gently telling him she was fine, not forgetting to smile in reassurance. Realising that she didn't want to talk about what was bothering her in front of everyone else; Neville nodded and wrapped his arm around her shoulders pulling her to the side of his body.

"Did anyone else get called into to talk to a teacher about are careers today?" Blaise asked from where he lounged on the floor in front of the unlit fire.

"Yeah, Slughorn caught up with me after breakfast" Draco replied from his position in front of Hermione who said she had been asked by Professor King, Harry and Neville nodding in agreement to her statement.

"Daph did one of the Professors talk to you too?" Astoria asked, wondering what her sister had answered, curious as to whether or not her answer matched the one she gave when she was a fifth year.

"Yeah Slughorn caught up me too" she told her. When she saw Astoria looking at her expectantly she frowned slightly in confusion, "What?" she asked wondering why her sister was looking at her like she was.

"What did you say?" she asked smiling at her sister's confusion. When she was told to mind her own business she pouted, "Come on Daph, please tell me. I'll tell what I said when I got asked this morning" she bargained, drawing the other occupants in the room to the conversation.

Seeing everyone else eyes on her Daphne gave a fake agitated sigh before answering with a smile. "Fine, if you must know I told him that I wanted to a designer and open my own clothes and accessory shop. Satisfied?" she asked her too curious sister who was smiling brightly at having convinced her sister to reveal her answer.

"Wow Daphne" Blaise exclaimed from the floor, pushing himself up into a sitting position as he looked at his housemate shocked. "When you got asked in year five to told Snape that you wanted to be socialite and wife to a rich pureblood" he said shocked at the change in her answer.

Daphne huffed slightly at the overly shocked face of Blaise, "Yes well, then I was silly, immature and thought those that I'd be happy with just that. Now I want to make a name for myself and be independent. Nothing wrong with that is there?" she asked the room rhetorically, everyone shaking their head in acknowledgement. "Go on then, what did you say this time Blaise? I bet your answer had changed too" she asked the dark skinned boy and he returned to his relaxed position on the floor.

"Of course it's changed Daph" he told her with a grin, "Fifth year I said that I wanted to be a lawyer and continue the family business. Like I was expected to. Today I told old Sluggy that I wanted to be a musician and tour Europe and the world. Now I have my parent's blessing to do so I have nothing stopping me at all" he told everyone, his eyes closed, fingers drumming on his chest causing Draco, Daphne and Astoria to smile at his actions. "Draco?"

"I told him that I'm going to start my own business, break away from the shackles of my father and raise my name from the dirt my father has dragged it through. Fifth year I said that I'd join my father in the business, bag a beautiful pureblood wife and be the talk to the town. Sufficient to say that I've grown up in the last three years" he said causing everyone to laugh at the last bit. Looking down at the woman in his arms he raised one eyebrow, making him look like his old arrogant self. "Hermione? What about you?" he asked his girlfriend, running his hand though her curly hair causing her to smile and close her eyes in contentment for a couple of seconds.

"If fifth year I told McGonagall that I was going to work at the Ministry and work towards improving the rights of House Elves and other magical creatures" she said causing Harry, Ginny and Neville to snort and laugh as they remembered how she knitted woolly hats and placed them throughout the common room in an attempt to set the elves free. Narrowing her eyes at the three before using her wand to throw pillows at them to get them to stop laughing she continued, "But I told King that I was going to be a children's Healer. I even hinted to opening my own day care centre type of thing later on, but that's a big maybe" she told them all before burrowing her head into Draco's shoulder as though she was embarrassed by her answer.

"What about you Harry? What did you say?" Daphne asked from the other side of Astoria.

"Well, fifth year I said I was going to be an Auror. Today I said that I was going to bring the family business back from the grave as it were. Take it out the hands of the trustees and put a Potter back at the top" he answered simply. Looking over at Neville he asked what he answered.

"Mine must be the only answer that hasn't changed. Fifth year I said that I wanted to get my Masters in Herbology and I still do. The only difference has been that I won't become a teacher straight away. I'm going to open a Herbology centre and start a protection scheme with an education centre attached informing people of the damages and losses the Herbology world has suffered in recent years" he told the room, shocking everyone into silence as the once shy boy revealed his future plans. Everyone was incredibly proud at the progress the boy had made over the last couple of years, especially regarding his confidence. Looking down he asked Ginny what she answered the in her fifth year.

"I told McGonagall that I wanted to play for the Holyhead Harpies. My answer isn't going to change if I'm asked again next year," she replied before looking over to Luna. "What about you Luna?"

"I said I was going to search for the Crumple-Horned Snorkack in Sweden. I'll say I'll be an artist next year, although I'll make sure to tell Professor Flitwick that I still plan on finding one" she answered dreamily from where she lay on the floor next to Blaise.

"What did you say Astoria? Or haven't you had career advice yet?" Hermione asked the fifth year drawing her attention from Luna.

"Oh, yes I had it this morning. I told Slughorn that I wanted to be a journalist and a photographer. I won't work the Prophet though, I'd be freelance. Then maybe one day I'll be able to start my own magazine and help others get into the business. Apparently it's rather competitive" she told the older girl before looking down at her lap shyly.

"That's great Astoria. A real reporter telling the stories how they should be told. I'm sure you'll be brilliant" Hermione told the younger girl, noticing her shy behaviour. Harry and Daphne both looked at the girl sat between them, happy that she was going to do something that would make her happy.

The nine friends continued to talk well into the night, staying up so late that it was well past curfew when they decided to call it a night. Knowing that if they got caught they would be in trouble it was decided that everyone would stay in the Heads Common room for the night.

* * *

Before anyone knew it, it was the day of the Graduation Ceremony. The Quidditch pitch had been transformed for the ceremony and family members began to flood into Hogsmeade the days before the ceremony.

The morning of Graduation dawned bright and sunny and the Seventh years all bolted out of bed and down to the Great Hall, excited at the prospect of graduating and moving into the real world. There was also an aura of sadness throughout the seventh year students at the prospect of leaving the hallowed halls of Hogwarts never to return.

Making their way down to the Quidditch pitch Hermione, Draco, Harry, Daphne, Blaise, Neville as well as all the other seventh years were all directed by the teachers to their seats in front of the stage that had been erected for the Professors to sit and hand out diplomas. When all the students and their families were sat down the Headmistress stood and made her way to the golden owl podium that had been brought down from the Great Hall.

"Welcome everyone to the Graduation Ceremony of the Class of 1998" she started pausing when applause for the graduating students ran throughout the stadium. When she could be heard again the Headmistress continued, "The cause of their school career has been fraught with challenges and troubles, some suffering more than others" as she said this her gaze landed on Hermione and Harry, "but everyone of them have made it to the other side unscathed and with new friendships that will last a lifetime. So without further ado, I will hand out the well earned diplomas" and with that McGonagall began to call out the names of pupils while their respective Head of House handed them their diploma shaking their hand. When all the diplomas were handed out the headmistress concluded her speech. "Ladies and gentlemen, I present you the Graduating class of 1998. Well done every single one of you and good luck. I'm sure you'll be successful in what you want to do."

Once that was said loud cheers ran out from the seventh years as they all jumped up and threw their hats in the air before turning to each other and hugging in celebration, couples finding each other and kissing, while the teacher and families looked on, clapping in celebration.

Although the students had graduated they all knew that this wasn't the end of their story, it was only the beginning as they moved into the adult world and began a new and exciting adventure.

* * *

Well that was chapter eighteen. Apologies again for the long delay between chapters, but this is the last chapter of _this_ tale, but I'll most likely continue the tale and lives of the characters in another story if people want me to.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and the story and thank you for all the wonderful reviews. Let me know what you think.

ULNO


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